Does  Religion  Pay? 

- o - 


W.  D.  NOWLIN 


BX  6333  . N6  D6 

Nowlin,  William  Dudley,  1864 
-1950 . 

Does  religion  pay? 


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Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2019  with  funding  from 
Princeton  Theological  Seminary  Library 


https://archive.org/details/doesreligionpayrOOnowl 


/ 


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I 


DOES  RELIGION  PAY? 


DOES  RELIGION  PAY? 


REVIVAL  SERMONS 


WILLIAM  DUDLEY  NOWLIN,  D.  D.,  LL.  D. 

Author  of 


"  Vhat  Baptists  Stand  For,”  “Fundamentals  of  the  Faith,” 
“  Kentucky  Baptist  History,”  ete. 


PHILADELPHIA 


THE  JUDSON  PRESS 


BOSTON 
KANSAS  CITY 


CHICAGO 

SEATTLE 


LOS  ANGELES 
TORONTO 


Copyright,  1923,  by 
GILBERT  N.  BRINK,  Secretary 

Published  April,  1923 


* 


Printed  in  U.  S.  A, 


THIS  BOOK 

IS  DEDICATED  BY  THE  AUTHOR 
TO  HIS  FRIEND 

PROFESSOR  HOMER  FELTS 

OF  E ETHEL  COLLEGE,  RUSSELLVILLE,  KY. 


INTRODUCTION 


The  author  of  this  volume  of  sermons  is  so  well  and 
favorably  known  throughout  the  sunny  Southland,  both 
as  an  author  and  a  preacher,  that  he  needs  no  introduction 
from  any  one  to  the  people  of  that  vast  section.  Both 
for  his  own  sake  and  for  his  work’s  sake,  he  is  held  in 
the  highest  esteem  by  his  brethren  everywhere. 

The  sermons  in  this  volume  are  the  sermons  of  a  pastor 
whose  life  is  crowded  with  the  endless,  exacting,  and 
responsible  duties  incident  to  the  pastorate  of  a  large  and 
constantly  growing  church.  These  are  not  carefully 
written  essays  but  are  earnestly  spoken  messages,  and 
they  are  recorded  just  as  they  came  directly  from  the 
preacher’s  lips  and  heart.  Every  sermon  is  on  a  theme 
immeasurably  important. 

The  reader  of  any  of  these  sermons  will  very  quickly 
discern  how  vital  they  are,  how  human  and  straightfor¬ 
ward  and  positive  they  are.  every  sermon  being  fortified 
by  a  constant  appeal  to  the  divine  authority  and  integrity 
of  the  Holy  Scriptures.  The  preacher’s  arguments  are 
driven  home  by  the  use  of  simple,  wholesome  words, 
enlivened  all  along  by  apt  and  telling  illustrations. 

One  of  the  most  vital  requisites  for  effective  preaching 
is  that  the  preacher  shall  be  sure  of  his  message.  That 
requisite  throbs  through  all  these  sermons.  The  preach- 


INTRODUCTION 


er’s  note  is  the  note  of  one  who  can  say,  “  I  believed, 
therefore  have  I  spoken.”  He  evidently  believes  that  the 
pulpit  is  no  place  for  a  religious  stammerer.  These  ser¬ 
mons  are  uttered  in  the  tone  of  one  who  believes  with  all 
his  heart  in  what  he  says,  and  that  the  truths  he  utters 
are  of  urgent  and  eternal  importance  to  his  hearers. 

One  is  therefore  not  at  all  surprised  to  learn  that  when 
these  sermons  were  delivered  they  were  in  God’s  hands 
a  means  of  great  blessing  to  many  people.  Even  so,  it  is 
confidently  believed  that  these  sermons,  now  to  be  given  a 
much  larger  audience  by  means  of  the  printed  page,  will 
continue  to  prove  a  present  and  eternal  blessing  to  many 
people.  God  grant  that  it  may  be  so,  for  His  Name’s 
sake ! 

George  W.  Truett. 

Pastor’s  Study,  First  Baptist  Church, 

Dallas,  Texas. 


AUTHOR’S  FOREWORD 


These  are  sermons  that  were  preached — not  written — 
and  taken  down  in  shorthand  as  they  were  delivered, 
without  notes  of  any  kind.  Of  course,  it  is  understood 
that  in  rapid,  extemporaneous  speech  there  will  not  be 
that  elegance  of  diction  found  in  carefully  written  ser¬ 
mons.  It  has  been  thought  best,  however,  to  leave  the 
sermons  practically  as  delivered. 

Professor  Homer  Felts,  head  of  the  business  depart¬ 
ment  of  Bethel  College,  Russellville,  Kentucky,  led  the 
singing  in  several  meetings  in  which  the  author  did  the 
preaching.  At  the  close  of  the  second  meeting  he  re¬ 
marked,  “  If  I  had  thought  of  it  in  time  I  would  have 
taken  all  these  sermons  down  in  shorthand.”  He  then 
added,  “If  we  ever  hold  another  meeting  together  I  will 
go  prepared  to  take  them,  and  will  then  run  them  off  on 
the  typewriter  for  you.”  Our  next  meeting  together  was 
at  Adairville,  Kentucky,  July,  1920,  at  which  time  Pro¬ 
fessor  Felts  took  these  sermons  down  as  they  were  de¬ 
livered.  These  are  about  half  the  number  used  at  the 
time. 

The  author  has  had  large  experience  in  evangelistic 
work,  holding  meetings  in  most  of  the  States  of  the 
Union,  and  in  many  large  cities,  for  example,  Chicago, 
Louisville,  Memphis,  Nashville,  Atlanta,  etc.,  as  well  as 


AUTHOR’S  FOREWORD 


in  many  small  villages  and  country  churches.  Some  of 
these  sermons  the  author  has  been  preaching  for  thirty 
years,  and  some  of  them  have  been  preached  more  than 
a  hundred  times. 

These  sermons,  so  far  as  the  author  is  aware,  are 
productions  of  his  own. 

Many  brethren  over  the  country  where  the  author  has 
held  meetings  have  taken  notes  of  these  sermons,  and 
some  of  them  are  using  them  with  the  author’s  permis¬ 
sion.  Within  the  past  decade  many  preachers  who  have 
heard  these  sermons  delivered  have  asked  if  they  were  in 
print,  and  when  told  they  were  not,  have  made  earnest 
requests  for  their  publication. 

May  these  sermons  go  forth  with  God’s  blessings  upon 
them. 

Yours  fraternally, 

Wm.  D.  Nowlin, 

Vice-president  of 
Southern  Baptist  Convention. 


February,  1923. 


CONTENTS 


SERMON  PAGE 

I.  God  So  Loved  the  World  . 1 

II.  Sin  Self-retributive  .  15 

III.  A  Message  from  Hell  to  Those  on  the 

Way  .  29 

IV.  Christ’s  Promise  to  the  Penitent  Thief  39 

V.  An  Unanswered  Question  in  Profit  and 

Loss  .  49 

VI.  Does  Religion  Pay?  .  58 

VII.  The  Gospel  Plan  of  Salvation  .  71 

VIII.  The  Holy  Spirit’s  Earnest  Appeal  to 

Prompt  Action  .  83 

IX.  Prepare  to  Meet  God  .  93 

X.  Divine  Abandonment  .  103 

XI.  Apostolic  Preaching  .  113 


XII.  The  Greatness  of  Service 


122 


I 


GOD  SO  LOVED  THE  WORLD 

“  For  God  so  loved  the  world,  that  he  gave  his  only  begotten 
Son,  that  whosoever  believeth  in  him  should  not  perish,  but  have 
everlasting  life.” — John  3  :  16. 

My  friends,  I  do  not  promise  to  preach  you  the  greatest 
sermon  you  ever  heard,  but  I  do  promise  to  preach  from 
the  greatest  text  you  ever  heard.  I  am  not  surprised 
that  this  text  has  been  called  “  the  little  Bible,”  “  the  gos¬ 
pel  in  a  nutshell,”  and  “  an  epitome  of  the  whole  gospel,” 
etc.,  for  I  suppose  if  there  is  any  single  text  in  the  Bible 
entitled  to  so  high  praise,  this  is  the  text.  While  the 
Bible  is  full  of  great  truths,  precious  promises,  and  stern 
rebukes,  this  text  rises  the  highest  peak  in  a  range  of 
great  mountains.  If  you  should  take  this  text,  and  what 
it  represents,  out  of  the  Bible  it  would  be  worthless  and 
powerless,  so  far  as  salvation  is  concerned.  Without 
this  text  the  Bible  might  still  be  valuable  as  an  ancient 
history,  for  it  is  an  ancient  history,  giving  God’s  dealings 
with  his  people  in  the  years  of  long  ago ;  it  might  be 
appreciated  for  its  splendid  code  of  laws,  for  the  Bible 
has  the  best  code  of  laws  in  existence,  and  nearly  all  of 
our  laws  that  are  just  and  equitable  are  based  on  the 
laws  of  the  Bible ;  it  might  be  valued  for  its  prose  and 
its  poetry,  for  it  has  both ;  it  might  be  appreciated  for 
its  literary  merit,  for  some  of  the  finest  gems  of  litera¬ 
ture  are  found  in  the  Bible;  but  so  far  as  salvation  is 
concerned  the  Bible,  without  this  text  and  what  it  repre¬ 
sents — God’s  love  for  the  world,  and  God’s  gift  to  the 

1 


2 


DOES  RELIGION  PAY? 


world — would  be  powerless.  It  is  this  great  text,  or  what 
it  represents,  running  all  through  the  Bible  that  makes  it 
tingle  and  vibrate  with  life  and  power. 

I  had  been  preaching  a  number  of  years  before  I  was 
willing  to  preach  from  this  great  text.  I  felt  that  any 
sermon  I  might  preach  from  this  text  would  be  over¬ 
shadowed  by  the  simple  grandeur  and  sublimity  of  the 
text  itself.  Then  I  remembered  that,  while  in  the  semi¬ 
nary,  our  professor  in  Homiletics  said  to  a  class  of 
young  preachers,  about  eighty  in  number,  “  Young  breth¬ 
ren,  you  have  never  really  preached  the  gospel  until  you 
have  preached  John  3  :  16,  for  that  is  the  very  heart  of 
the  gospel.”  So  I  decided  that  I  would  be  willing  for 
my  sermon  to  be  overshadowed  by  so  great  a  text  if  I 
could  only  get  the  text  to  lay  hold  of  the  hearts  of  the 
people  and  cause  them  to  appreciate,  as  never  before,  the 
great  love  of  God  wherewith  he  loved  us.  I  am  willing 
this  night  that  you  may  forget  this  sermon  forever  if  I 
can  only  cause  you  to  appreciate  the  love  of  God  as 
never  before. 

I.  God’s  Gift  to  the  World — His  Son 

God  gave  to  the  world  his  only  begotten  Son.  My 
friends,  when  I  contemplate  this  great  gift  of  God  to 
the  world  I  am  amazed,  yea,  I  am  dazed.  It  is  a  stagger¬ 
ing  thought.  We  cannot  comprehend,  or  take  in  the  full 
meaning  of  this  great  gift ;  it  is  too  great  for  us,  but 
we  can  apprehend,  or  lay  hold  upon  it. 

1.  One  reason  why  we  are  unable  to  take  in  the  full 
meaning  of  this  gift  is  that  we  have  nothing  with  which 
to  compare  it.  Nearly  all  knowledge  is  relative  knowl¬ 
edge.  We  know  things  as  they  relate  to  other  things ; 
we  know  very  little  in  the  abstract.  You  hear  some  one 
speak  of  his  age,  say,  thirty,  forty,  or  fifty  years,  and 


GOD  SO  LOVED  THE  WORLD 


3 


instinctively  you  compare  his  age  with  your  own — some¬ 
thing  with  which  you  are  more  familiar.  You  hear  one 
speak  of  a  mountain  so  many  thousand  feet  high,  and  at 
once  you  compare  it  with  some  hill  or  mountain  with 
which  you  are  more  familiar.  You  say  it  is  so  many 
times  the  height  of  this  hill  or  mountain.  You  get  the 
height  of  that  mountain  relatively.  A  man  who  would 
be  considered  a  rich  man  in  many  communities  in  the 
South  would  be  considered  a  pauper  on  Wall  Street  and 
vice  versa.  These  are  all  relative  matters.  So  I  say  the 
first  difficulty  we  have  in  trying  to  comprehend  the  value 
of  this  great  gift  is  the  fact  that  we  have  nothing  with 
which  to  compare  it.  Not  that  there  have  not  been  great 
gifts  made,  for  they  have  been  made.  When  we  think 
of  the  great  gifts  of  Mr.  Rockefeller  to  the  University 
of  Chicago  running  into  the  millions ;  when  we  recall  the 
splendid  gifts  of  Mr.  Carnegie  in  the  way  of  public 
libraries,  and  when  we  remember  the  munificent  gift  of 
Miss  Helen  Gould  to  the  United  States  Government  to 
help  prosecute  the  war  against  Spain,  and  many  others 
who  are  making  great  gifts  to  religion,  to  education,  and 
to  charity,  we  are  constrained  to  admit  that  there  have 
been  great  gifts  made,  but  none  of  these  gifts,  nay,  not 
all  of  them  combined  are  comparable  to  the  gift  of  the 
Son  of  God  for  the  sins  of  the  race. 

2.  Another  reason  why  we  are  unable  to  comprehend 
the  gift  is  that  the  finite  cannot  comprehend  the  infinite. 
While  Jesus  was  man  he  was  God;  while  he  was  human 
he  was  Divine.  Man  cannot  comprehend  God ;  the 
human  cannot  comprehend  the  Divine.  Such  an  attempt 
would  be  something  like  trying  to  empty  the  Mississippi 
River  into  a  gallon  bucket.  But,  my  friends,  while  we 
are  unable  to  comprehend,  or  take  in  the  full  meaning  of 
this  gift,  we  can  apprehend,  or  lay  hold  upon  him  and 


4 


DOES  RELIGION  PAY? 


apply  him  to  our  hearts.  Yes,  he  is  the  “  unspeakable 

gift." 

II.  The  Motive  Which  Prompted  the  Gift — Love 

God  so  loved  that  he  gave.  No  act  can  be  better  or 
worse,  as  to  thai  matter,  than  the  motive  which  gave  it 
birth.  The  motive  always  determines  the  quality  of  the 
act.  The  motive  does  not  determine  the  consequences  of 
an  act.  That  old  saying  that  “  All  is  well  that  ends  well  ” 
is  only  a  half-truth,  and  a  half-truth  is  often  the  worst 
sort  of  an  error.  Suppose  a  mother  should  undertake  to 
give  her  child  a  dose  of  strychnine  to  take  its  life,  and 
mothers  sometimes  do  such  things,  terrible  as  they  are, 
but  she  makes  a  mistake  and  gives  it  quinine.  The  child 
thrives  on  quinine.  Would  you  say  that  the  deed  was 
well  because  it  ended  well  ?  It  was  a  murderous  deed, 
because  murder  was  the  motive.  It  is  all  well  so  far  as 
the  child  is  concerned,  but  all  wrong  so  far  as  the  mother 
is  concerned.  On  the  other  hand,  however,  suppose  the 
mother  should  undertake  to  give  a  dose  of  quinine  and 
should  make  a  mistake  and  give  strychnine ;  the  child  is 
dead.  Would  you  say  that  the  mother  is  guilty  of 
murder?  No,  she  may  be  guilty  of  carelessness,  but  that 
is  as  far  as  guilt  can  attach.  The  motive  was  good,  and 
the  motive  determines  the  quality  of  the  act,  but  the 
motive  never  determines  the  consequences  of  an  act.  The 
strychnine  has  the  same  effect  as  if  given  with  murderous 
intent.  This  is  a  good  place  to  say  believing  a  thing  is 
right  does  not  make  it  right. 

The  motive  which  prompted  the  gift  of  the  Son  of 
God  was  love.  “  God  so  loved  that  he  gave.”  The 
most  unselfish  act  ever  committed  in  the  universe  of  God 
was  the  gift  of  Jesus  Christ  to  die  for  the  sins  of  the 
race.  Some  of  our  great  teachers  tell  us  that  no  man  can 


GOD  SO  LOVED  THE  WORLD 


5 


do  anything  which  is  absolutely  unselfish;  that  he  will 
always  think  of  what  he  is  to  get  out  of  it,  or  what  people 
will  think  of  it,  or  say  about  it.  I  would  not  go  so  far 
as  that,  but  I  grant  you  that  it  is  hard  for  man  to  be 
unselfish.  In  other  words,  it  is  hard  far  us  to  free  our¬ 
selves  from  ourselves.  No  doubt  Shakespeare  had  a  feel¬ 
ing  when  he  was  bringing  forth  his  wonderful  literary 
productions  that  he  was  rendering  the  world  a  splendid 
service,  but  who  can  say  with  any  degree  of  assurance 
that  Shakespeare  did  not  at  the  same  time  have  a  feeling 
that  he  was  writing  his  name  in  history ;  and  that  he 
would  go  down  in  history  as  the  greatest  literary  genius 
the  wx>rld  has  ever  produced?  That  is  selfishness,  if  he 
had  any  thought  of  his  fame  in  the  present  or  future. 
Perhaps  noble  old  John  Milton  when  bringing  forth 
“  Paradise  Lost  ”  and  “  Paradise  Regained  ”  felt  that  he 
was  doing  his  fellow  man  a  noble  turn ;  that  he  would 
quicken  the  spiritual  impulses  of  men  and  give  them  a 
grander  conception  of  the  Paradise  of  God.  But  who 
would  dare  say  that  John  Milton,  that  supremely  noble 
soul  who  rose  above  those  low  levels  of  sluggish  life 
where  every  mole-hill  becomes  a  mountain  and  every 
thistle  becomes  a  forest  tree,  did  not  say  to  himself  that 
“  While  I  am  doing  my  brother  a  splendid  service  I  am 
writing  my  name  in  history,  and  in  the  ages  to  come  my 
name  will  be  a  household  word,”  as  it  is  today?  That  is 
selfishness  if  he  thought  of  his  fame  in  history. 

But  we  might  come  closer  to  home.  No  doubt  that 
young  American,  Richmond  P.  Hobson,  that  noble  son 
of  the  South,  when  he  sailed  on  the  Merrimac  to  sink  it 
across  the  canal  to  cut  off  the  enemies  from  the  high 
seas,  had  a  feeling  that  he  would  lose  his  life.  Perhaps 
he  said,  “  I  may  lose  my  life  in  this  undertaking,  but  if  I 
go  down,  I  will  go  down  in  the  interest  of  a  down-trodden 

B 


6 


DOES  RELIGION  PAY? 


people,  a  people  who  are  panting  for  liberty  and  who 
deserve  liberty.”  And  he  may  have  said  too,  “  If  I  go 
down,  I  will  go  down  in  the  interest  of  the  greatest  gov¬ 
ernment  on  the  face  of  the  earth  and  under  the  grandest 
flag  that  was  ever  unfurled  to  the  breezes..”  Yes,  and 
perhaps  Hobson  said  in  the  secrets  of  his  heart :  “If  I 
go  down  in  this  undertaking,  I  will  write  my  name  high 
on  the  scrolls  of  fame;  I’ll  go  down  in  history  as  one 
of  the  greatest  heroes  of  the  Spanish-American  war.” 
That  very  thought  is  selfishness. 

But,  my  friends,  here  is  an  act  that  is  absolutely  free 
from  selfishness.  God  had  nothing  to  gain  by  the  gift 
of  his  Son  for  the  sins  of  the  race.  He  could  not  be 
richer,  or  wiser,  or  greater,  because  he  is  God.  He 
could  not  extend  the  bounds  of  his  kingdom,  for  all  the 
kingdoms  of  the  universe  are  his ;  he  could  not  be  richer, 
because  the  gold  of  the  Alaskas  and  the  silver  of  the 
Nebraskas  are  his,  and  the  cattle  upon  a  thousand  hills 
are  his ;  he  could  not  be  wiser  or  greater  because  he  is 
the  omniscient  and  omnipotent  God.  God  had  nothing  to 
gain  by  the  gift  of  his  Son.  It  was  not  what  he  could 
get  out  of  us  but  what  he  could  put  into  us  that  prompted 
the  act. 

Some  one  might  reply,  however,  that  God  gained  all 
these  worshipers  who  fall  down  and  worship  him  as  a 
result  of  this  gift.  But,  my  friend,  did  you  ever  think 
that  all  these  worshipers  only  mean  so  many  beggars  on 
God’s  bounty?  If  I  should  have  a  hundred  beggars  to 
come  to  my  door  and  receive  my  bounty,  have  they  laid 
me  under  tribute  to  them,  or  are  they  under  tribute  to 
me  ?  Let  us  never  forget  that  God  did  not  need  us.  He 
was  not  lonesome;  he  was  not  without  worshipers.  We 
learn  that  when  God  created  the  waves  of  the  mighty 
deep  and  said,  “  Thus  far  shalt  thou  go,  and  no  farther  ”; 


GOD  SO  LOVED  THE  WORLD 


7 


yea,  when  he  created  the  clouds  and  spread  them  out  like 
a  curtain ;  yea,  when  he  laid  the  foundations  of  this  old 
earth,  the  morning  stars  sang  together  and  the  sons  of 
God  shouted  for  joy.  Long  before  the  sun  had  ever 
peeped  over  the  eastern  horizon  to  roll  on  in  his  majestic 
splendor  to  his  hiding  away  behind  the  western  hills,  or 
ever  the  forked  lightnings  had  flashed  their'  electric  fires 
around  the  globe,  or  the  muttering  thunders  had  rolled 
across  the  valleys  and  echoed  from  mountain  peak  to 
mountain  peak,  or  the  conies  had  inhabited  the  rocks  of 
the  mountains,  or  the  wild  ass  had  roamed  the  plains  of 
the  wilderness,  or  the  whales  had  traversed  the  depths  of 
the  seas,  or  the  proud  eagle  had  soared  aloft  to  dip  his 
pinions  in  the  golden  sunshine  of  heaven,  God  had  wor¬ 
shipers  crying.  “  Holy,  holy,  holy,  Lord  God  Almighty.” 
Don't  you  get  the  conception,  my  brother,  that  you  have 
laid  God  under  tribute  to  you  by  allowing  him  to  save 
you.  God  so  loved  that  he  gave. 

Now,  having  noticed  the  gift,  God’s  Son,  and  the 
motive,  love,  next  let  us  consider 

III.  The  Extent  of  This  Love — World-wide 

God  so  loved  THE  WORLD,  not  a  part  of  the  world. 
\\  e  have  the  same  difficulty  when  we  try  to  comprehend  a 
world-wide  love  that  we  had  when  we  tried  to  compre¬ 
hend  the  Gift.  No  human  being  can  love  the  whole 
world,  neither  can  any  human  being  comprehend  a  world¬ 
wide  love.  People  sometimes  say,  “  I  love  the  whole 
world,”  but  this  is  a  moral  impossibility.  Your  love  can 
never  go  beyond  your  knowledge.  This  is  why  it  is  im¬ 
portant  to  have  missionary  information.  You  must 
know  before  you  can  feel,  and  you  must  feel  before  you 
can  act.  This  is  the  psychological  process.  But  being 
unable  to  know  the  whole  world,  you  are  unable  to 


8 


DOES  RELIGION  PAY? 


love  the  whole  world.  But  God,  knowing  the  condition 
of  every  son  of  Adam’s  race,  whether  on  the  continent 
or  on  the  isles  of  the  seas,  could  and  did  love  the  whole 
world.  The  poet  has  tried  to  give  us  some  conception  of 
God’s  love  in  the  words, 

There’s  a  wideness  in  God’s  mercy 

Like  the  wideness  of  the  sea. 

But  that  does  not  do  God’s  love  justice.  If  we  should 
compare  God’s  love  to  a  sea,  it  is  bottomless,  and  they 
who  have  waded  the  farthest  discover  as  they  look  to  the 
depths  beyond  that  they  are  wading  around  the  edge. 
If  we  should  compare  God’s  love  to  a  plain,  it  is  bound¬ 
less,  and  they  who  are  on  the  very  frontiers  discover  as 
they  look  to  the  distance  beyond  that  they  have  just 
entered  the  border-land.  If  we  should  compare  God’s 
love  to  a  mountain,  it  is  topless,  and  they  who  have 
climbed  the  highest  discover  as  they  look  to  the  dizzy 
heights  beyond  that  they  are  groping  around  the  base. 
No  wonder  the  apostle  exclaimed,  “  The  height  and  the 
depth  and  breadth  of  the  love  of  God,  and  who  can  know 
it?”  No  man  can  know  it.  We  cannot  fathom  its 
depths  nor  scale  its  heights,  but  blessed  be  God,  we  can 
apprehend,  or  lay  hold  upon,  this  love  and  apply  it  to  our 
hearts  and  lives.  You  do  not  have  to  drink  the  Missis¬ 
sippi  River  dry  in  order  to  slake  your  thirst.  You  drink, 
and  the  great  river  runs  on  just  the  same.  Neither  do 
you  have  to  comprehend  a  world-wide  love  that  you  may 
apprehend  it. 

Now,  if  God  loved  the  world,  and  Jesus  died  for  the 
world,  should  we  not  make  an  effort  to  save  the  whole 
world?  In  other  words  do  you  not  think  our  efforts  to 
save  the  world  should  be  coextensive  with  God’s  love  for 
the  world  ?  I  always  have  a  feeling  when  I  hear  one  say, 


GOD  SO  LOVED  THE  WORLD 


9 


“  I’m  a  Christian,  but  I  don’t  believe  in  missions,”  that 
there  is  something  wrong ;  that  he  either  does  not  know 
what  it  means  to  be  a  Christian,  or  he  does  not  know 
what  we  mean  by  missions.  If  we  love  Jesus,  we  are 
going  to  love  the  people  whom  he  loved.  We  cannot  help 
it.  Some  years  ago  I  was  supplying  the  LaSalle  Avenue 
Baptist  Church,  of  Chicago,  for  Dr.  John  T.  Christian, 
who  was  supplying  at  the  same  time  for  Doctor  Bernardo, 
of  London,  England.  While  I  was  there  in  my  supply  I 
got  a  letter  from  Mrs.  Nowlin  saying  our  baby  girl,  about 
a  year  and  a  half  old,  was  sick.  She  said  that  while  giv¬ 
ing  the  baby  a  bath  one  day,  she  discovered  that  she  was 
swollen  on  one  side.  She  called  the  family  physician,  and 
he  called  a  second,  and  they  called  a  third  physician. 
After  a  thorough  examination  the  family  physician  said 
to  Mrs.  Nowlin,  “  You  write  your  husband  and  tell  him 
to  fill  out  his  supply  and  come  home.”  I  had  one  more 
Sunday  to  fill.  I  filled  it  and  started  for  home  in  Lex¬ 
ington,  Kentucky.  When  I  got  home  I  could  see  quite 
a  change  had  taken  place  in  two  months’  time  in  the  little 
one.  I  had  her  examined  by  the  best  surgeons  in  the 
county.  They  said :  “  It  is  a  malignant  growth  on  the 
liver,  and  the  only  thing  that  will  do  any  good  is  an  opera¬ 
tion,  and  there  isn’t  much  chance  then.  She  is  so  young 
and  so  small  that  she  will  hardly  recover  from  so  severe 
an  operation — perhaps  one  chance  in  a  thousand.” 
“  Well,”  we  said,  “  if  there  is  one  chance  in  a  thousand, 
we  will  take  the  one.”  But  before  we  carried  the  little 
one  to  the  hospital  a  poor  little  dirty,  sore-eyed,  ragged, 
black  kitten  came  into  the  house,  and  she  wanted  the  little 
kitten.  She  ran  after  it  and  tried  to  catch  it,  but  in  her 
swollen  condition  before  she  could  stoop  over  and  catch 
it  it  would  get  away.  She  got  down  on  her  little  hands 
and  knees  and  crawled  after  it  and  caught  it.  She 


10 


DOES  RELIGION  PAY? 


hugged  the  dirty  little  kitten  and  loved  it,  but  the  other 
children  didn’t  want  the  dirty  little  thing  about  the  house, 
so  they  took  it  away  from  her  and  put  it  out  at  the  door. 
The  little  kitten  went  on  its  way,  and  we  took  the  little 
girl  to  the  hospital.  The  operation  was  performed.  She 
never  recovered  from  the  shock.  She  passed  away  with¬ 
out  regaining  consciousness.  We  took  the  little  body 
home  and  prepared  it  for  burial ;  we  took  it  out  and 
buried  it  under  the  blue-grass  sod  to  await  the  voice  of 
God  in  the  resurrection  morn.  In  our  sadness  we  re¬ 
turned  to  our  home,  and  everywhere  we  turned  we  missed 
that  dear  little  one  who  was  gone.  It  matters  not  how 
many  other  children  you  may  have,  or  how  many  may 
come  into  the  home  after  one  is  taken  away,  that  vacancy 
is  never  filled.  One  day,  perhaps  a  week,  after  the  little 
one  was  put  in  her  grave,  we  were  sitting  in  the  sitting- 
room,  nobody  saying  a  word ;  every  one  knew  what  every 
other  one  was  thinking  about.  All  at  once  one  of  the 
children  said,  “  There  is  that  little  kitty  that  little  Annie 
loved  so.”  They  picked  it  up,  and  hugged  it,  and  loved 
it.  I  got  up  and  walked  out  into  the  back -yard  to  get 
away  from  the  sight.  I  was  walking  around,  almost 
blinded  with  tears,  when  I  heard  little  William  D.,  Jr., 
the  youngest  child  we  had  living  then,  talking  to  the  little 
kitten.  He  had  a  saucer  of  milk  and  was  feeding  it, 
rubbing  its  back,  and  saying,  “  Little  Annie  loved  this 
little  kitty  so.”  That  kitten  had  the  right-of-way  on 
that  place ;  no  one  had  the  heart  to  put  it  out.  Brethren, 
what  was  the  difference?  It  was  just  as  dirty,  and 
ragged,  and  sore-eyed  as  it  was  before.  But  that  little 
one  whom  they  loved,  loved  it,  and  now  she  was  gone, 
they  could  but  love  the  object  of  her  devotion.  If  we 
really  love  Christ,  we  shall  love  the  people  whom  he  loved 
and  for  whom  he  died. 


GOD  SO  LOVED  THE  WORLD 


11 


It  is  not  a  question  so  much  of  whether  the  heathen 
can  be  saved  without  the  gospel  as  it  is  a  question  of 
whether  we  are  saved  if  we  refuse  to  send  them  the 
gospel.  It  is  not  a  question  of  whether  they  deserve  it 
or  not,  nor  whether  they  appreciate  it  or  not ;  the  question 
is,  Does  Jesus  deserve  it,  and  does  he  appreciate  it? 

Let  us  notice  in  the  last  place 

IV.  The  Purpose  of  This  Gift  Which  Was  Prompted 
by  a  World-wide  Love — Salvation 

The  purpose  of  this  gift  was  “  That  whosoever  be- 
lieveth  on  him  should  not  perish,  but  have  everlasting 
life.”  The  purpose  of  the  coming  of  Christ  into  this 
world  was  twofold,  First,  that  the  world  MIGHT  be 
saved,  and  secondly,  that  the  believer  SHOULD  be  saved. 
Let  us  then  notice  the  first  point.  It  says,  “  God  sent  not 
his  Son  into  the  world  to  condemn  the  world,  but  that 
the  world  through  him  might  be  saved.”  Now,  this  Scrip¬ 
ture  does  not  say  that  the  world  should  be  saved,  but 
MIGHT  be  saved.  John  tells  us  that  “  Jesus  was  the  pro¬ 
pitiation  for  our  sins,  and  not  for  our  sins  only,  but  for 
the  sins  of  the  whole  world.”  That  is,  that  he  by  his 
death  rendered  God  propitious,  or  favorable,  toward  the 
whole  world — made  it  possible  for  God  to  be  just  and 
the  Justifier  of  the  believer. 

There  are  two  extreme  views  on  this  point.  Our  old 
hyper-Calvinistic,  or  Antinomian  brethren,  say  Christ 
made  an  atonement  on  the  cross  for  a  definite  and  specific 
number  of  individuals,  and  that  that  number  will  be 
saved — no  more,  no  less.  Now  if  that  premise  is  correct, 
the  conclusion  is  correct ;  that  is,  if  they  mean  by  atone¬ 
ment  what  I  mean  by  it — actual  at-one-ment  with  God. 
On  the  other  hand  is  the  Universalist  who  savs  that 
“  Christ  made  an  atonement  on  the  cross  for  the  whole 


12 


DOES  RELIGION  PAY? 


world,  therefore  the  whole  world  will  be  saved.”  Well, 
if  his  premise  is  correct,  his  conclusion  is  correct;  that  is, 
if  he  means  by  atonement  what  I  mean  by  it — actual 
at-one-ment — actual  redemption.  The  trouble  is  with  the 
premise  in  both  cases.  Christ  did  not  make  an  atonement 
on  the  cross  for  a  definite  number  of  individuals,  neither 
did  he  make  an  atonement  on  the  cross  for  the  whole 
world.  In  fact,  the  cross  was  not  the  place  of  atonement 
but  the  place  of  the  sacrifice.  If  you  will  go  with  me  in 
your  imagination  back  to  the  Mosaic  dispensation  I  think 
you  can  see  a  clear  distinction  between  the  sacrifice  and  the 
atonement.  The  lamb  which  was  slain  was  a  type  of  the 
Lamb  of  God  for  sinners  slain  from  the  foundation  of 
the  world,  in  purpose.  The  lamb  was  slain  without  the 
courts  by  the  people  and  for  the  people;  the  high  priest 
took  the  blood  and  went  into  the  holy  of  holies,  and  there 
he  made  an  atonement  for  the  sins  of  his  people.  The 
sacrifice  was  one  thing  and  took  place  at  one  place ;  the 
atonement  was  another  thing  and  took  place  at  another 
place.  I  am  sure  you  get  the  distinction.  Christ  who 
died  on  the  cross  was  the  real  Lamb  of  God  of  which  the 
lamb  was  a  type,  who  was  for  sinners  slain  from  the 
foundation  of  the  world,  in  purpose,  but  actually  slain 
when  he  died  on  the  cross.  This,  the  real  Lamb  of  God, 
was  slain  without  the  courts  of  heaven  by  the  people  and 
for  the  people,  and  he,  being  a  great  High  Priest  forever 
after  the  order  of  Melchizedek,  takes  his  own  blood  and 
goes  into  the  Holy  of  Holies  and  there  he  makes  an 
atonement  for  the  sins  of  his  people.  The  sacrifice  oc¬ 
curred  here  on  earth,  but  the  atonement  takes  place  in 
heaven.  What  was  done  on  the  cross  was  done  for  the 
whole  world ;  but  what  is  done  in  heaven  is  done  for  the 
believer  only.  If  you  take  the  position  that  Christ  made 
atonement  on  the  cross — that  is,  if  you  mean  by  atone- 


GOD  SO  LOVED  THE  WORLD 


13 


ment  actual  redemption — you  will  land  either  on  the 
Antinomian  snag  or  the  Universalist  snag.  If  Christ 
made  an  atonement  on  the  cross  at  all  it  was  either  for 
the  part  or  for  the  whole.  This  is  a  self-evident  proposi¬ 
tion.  Christ  by  his  death  provided  a  plan  of  salvation 
sufficient  for  all,  but  efficient  for  the  believer  only.  Christ 
died  for  all,  rendered  God  propitious  (or  favorable)  to¬ 
ward  all,  and  offers  salvation  to  all ;  but  only  those  who 
accept  the  benefits  of  the  sacrifice — through  repentance 
and  faith — are  actually  atoned  for,  or  redeemed. 

Then,  Christ  came  first  of  all  to  provide  a  plan  of  sal¬ 
vation  sufficient  for  all,  and  to  make  it  possible  for  all 
who  desire  salvation  to  be  saved  on  the  terms  of  the 
gospel.  While  salvation  is  not  universal,  the  offer  of 
salvation  is  universal.  “  All  men  everywhere  are  com¬ 
manded  to  repent,”  and  “  Whosoever  will  may  come,” 
and  “  Him  that  cometh  unto  me  I  will  in  no  wise  cast 
out.”  The  offer  of  salvation  could  not  be  made  more 
general. 

Christ  came  not  only  that  the  world  might  be  saved,  but 
that  the  believer  should  be  saved.  It  is  a  glorious  doc¬ 
trine  that  those  who  are  saved  by  grace  are  kept  by  the 
power  of  God  through  faith  unto  salvation  ready  to  be 
revealed  at  the  last  day.  Jesus  says,  “  I  give  unto  them 
eternal  life,  and  they  shall  never  perish.”  If  any  of 
those  who  receive  eternal  life  do  perish,  that  Scripture  is 
false.  “  He  that  believeth  on  the  Son  hath  everlasting 
life,  and  shall  not  come  into  condemnation.”  If  any  of 
those  who  believe  on  the  Son  are  condemned  that  Scrip¬ 
ture  is  false.  We  are  told,  however,  that  in  certain 
Scriptures  it  is  implied  that  the  redeemed  may  be  lost. 
The  very  first  law  of  interpretation  is  that  the  dubious, 
inferential,  or  hypothetical  Scriptures  must  be  made  to 
conform  to  the  positive  statements  of  God’s  word.  If 


14 


DOES  RELIGION  PAY? 


you  do  not  observe  this  rule  in  interpreting  the  Scriptures, 
they  lose  their  value. 

Conduct  may  disturb  fellowship,  but  it  cannot  change 
relationship.  My  son  is  my  son  and  has  my  blood  in  him 
though  he  should  go  to  the  gallows  and  die  for  the  worst 
of  crimes.  If  we  are  the  children  of  God,  made  partakers 
of  the  divine  nature,  if  we  should  go  to  hell,  we  would 
go  as  the  children  of  God,  and  just  that  much  of  the 
divine  nature  would  be  there. 

It  is  cruel  and  inhuman  to  suggest  that  a  child  of  God 
serves  because  he  is  afraid  of  going  to  hell.  “  The  love 
of  Christ  constraineth  us.”  “  There  is  no  service  like  his 
who  serves  because  he  loves.”  There  are  but  three 
motives  to  action,  so  far  as  I  know.  They  are  the  hope 
of  reward,  the  fear  of  punishment,  and  love.  He  who 
serves  for  reward  renders  a  selfish  service ;  he  who 
serves  from  a  sense  of  fear  renders  a  slavish  service; 
but  he  who  serves  because  he  loves,  is  moved  by  the 
noblest  impulse  that  ever  stirred  God,  angels,  or  men. 
We  are  wretched  ingrates  if  we  fail  to  love  him  who  first 
loved  us,  for  it  is  by  his  stripes  we  are  healed.  The 
stroke  that  was  due  us  fell  on  him.  God  so  loved  that 
he  gave ;  Jesus  so  loved  that  he  died.  Do  we  so  love  that 
we  will  accept?  Love  is  the  greatest  thing  in  the  world. 
It  thrills  like  a  poem,  it  soothes  like  a  psalm,  it  warms 
like  a  flame,  it  shines  like  a  sun,  it  sings  like  an  angel. 
Oh,  I  wonder  if  in  this  world  here  below,  or  in  the 
heavens  above,  we  shall  ever  fully  know  the  matchless 
powers  of  love.  We  may  never  be  able  to  fathom  its 
depth  here  below,  nor  scale  its  heights  on  that  blest 
shore  beyond ;  but,  blessed  be  God,  we  can  apprehend, 
or  lay  hold  upon,  this  great  love  of  God  and  appropriate 
it  to  our  hearts  and  lives. 


II 


SIN  SELF-RETRIBUTIVE 

“  We  are  verily  guilty  concerning  our  brother,  in  that  we  saw 
the  anguish  of  his  soul  when  he  besought  us,  and  we  would  not 
hear  him ;  therefore  is  this  distress  come  upon  us.” — Genesis 
42  :  21. 

This  is  the  statement  of  Joseph’s  brothers  in  the 
prison-house  in  Egypt.  The  famine  was  not  only  sore 
in  the  land  of  Egypt  but  was  suffered  in  Canaan  as  well. 
Old  Jacob  called  his  sons  together  and  said:  “There  is 
corn  for  sale  down  in  Egypt.  Go  down  and  buy  that  we 
may  save  our  families  alive.”  These  ten  sons  took  their 
sacks  and  their  money  and  went  down  to  buy  corn. 
When  they  came  into  Egypt  they  stood  before  Joseph, 
their  long-lost  brother,  and  they  did  not  recognize  him, 
but  he  recognized  them.  Joseph  accused  them  of  being 
spies  come  to  spy  out  the  nakedness  of  the  land,  but  they 
bowed  themselves  before  him  and  said.  “  My  Lord,  we 
are  not  spies,  but  to  buy  food  are  thy  servants  come.” 
They  said  they  would  not  bow  before  him,  but  they  did. 
And  they  said,  “  Thy  servants  are  twelve  brethren,  the 
sons  of  one  man  in  the  land  of  Canaan;  behold,  the 
youngest  is  this  day  with  our  father,  and  one  is  not.”  Oh, 
what  a  terrible  confession — “  and  one  is  not  ” — and  that 
one  who  was  not  was  the  one  who  preeminently  was,  and 
before  whom  they  stood  that  day.  But  Joseph  said,  “  No, 
you  are  spies,  and  that  your  words  may  be  proved,  I’ll 
put  you  in  prison,”  and  he  put  them  all  into  prison  and 
kept  them  there  three  days.  On  the  third  day  Joseph 

15 


16 


DOES  RELIGION  PAY? 


went  in  and  communed  with  them  through  an  interpreter, 
pretending  not  to  understand  their  language,  and  required 
that  one  of  the  brothers  should  be  bound  in  the  prison- 
house  until  they  brought  Benjamin.  It  was  then  and 
there  that  they  said  to  themselves — not  to  Joseph,  for 
they  did  not  know  Joseph,  neither  did  they  know  that  he 
understood  their  language — but  they  said,  one  to  another : 
“  We  are  verily  guilty  concerning  our  brother,  in  that  we 
saw  the  anguish  of  his  soul  when  he  besought  us,  and 
we  would  not  hear  him ;  therefore  is  this  distress  come 
upon  us.” 

Sin  carries  in  itself  the  elements  of  retributive  justice, 
and  constituted  as  we  are  with  memories,  consciences, 
and  reasoning  powers,  we  would  suffer  as  a  result  of  sin 
so  long  as  these  faculties  live  and  the  guilt  of  sin  is  upon 
them,  if  there  were  no  hell.  There  are  those  who  seem 
to  think  that  if  they  could  by  some  hook  or  crook  just 
slip  into  heaven  in  all  of  their  guilt,  they  would  be 
supremely  happy.  But,  my  friend,  if  you  could  get  into 
heaven  in  all  of  your  sin,  with  your  hatred  for  God  and 
for  righteousness,  and  your  love  of  sin,  heaven  would  be 
a  veritable  hell  to  you.  You  could  not  exist  in  the  pres¬ 
ence  of  holiness  with  the  guilt  of  sin  upon  you.  Heaven 
and  hell  are  going  to  be  what  they  are  to  us  largely  by 
reason  of  what  we  carry  with  us  to  these  places  rather 
than  by  reason  of  what  we  find  there.  The  great  question 
is  not  one  of  simply  getting  into  heaven  but  one  of  being 
prepared  for  heaven.  Sin  transformed  the  Garden  of 
Eden  into  a  brier-patch,  and  it  would  transform  heaven 
into  a  hell.  Sin  carries  in  itself  the  elements  of  retributive 
justice,  so  it  matters  not  where  one  is,  so  long  as  the 
conscious  guilt  of  sin  is  upon  him  he  must  suffer  the 
consequences  of  this  sin.  One’s  condition  is  not  deter¬ 
mined  by  the  place  he  is  in.  Let  us  notice,  then, 


SIN  SELF-RETRIBUTIVE 


17 


I.  Memory  Recalling 

We  saw.”  Yes,  they  saw  the  anguish  expressed  in 
Joseph’s  face  when  they  pulled  him  up  out  of  the  pit,  but 
they  would  not  hear  him.  His  appeal  for  sympathy  was 
utterly  ignored ;  his  cries  fell  on  deaf  ears  and  stony 
hearts.  They  “  would  not  hear  him.” 

1.  It  seems  to  be  a  psychological  fact  that  memory  in 
times  of  sudden  distress,  or  unexpected  calamity,  recalls 
the  deeds  of  the  past  like  a  panoramic  vision.  We  have 
been  told  by  men  who  have  been  rescued  from  drowning 
that  in  the  last  moments  of  consciousness  they  seemed 
to  see  all  the  deeds  of  the  past  in  a  moment’s  time ;  deeds 
which  they  thought  were  forgotten  forever,  all  came 
trooping  up  and  stood  before  them.  In  a  meeting  I  was 
holding  in  Newport  News,  Virginia,  some  years  ago,  a 
prominent  lawyer  there  said  to  me,  after  I  had  preached 
this  sermon :  “  Brother,  I  know  that  statement  is  true, 
for  during  the  Civil  War  I  had  the  experience.  That 
thing  does  happen.”  Some  years  later  I  was  holding  a 
meeting  in  Paducah.  Kentucky,  when  an  old  white-haired 
man  came  up  and  said.  “  My  brother.  I  want  to  tell  you 
an  experience  I  had  here  in  the  Ohio  River  just  in  front 
of  this  city  when  I  was  a  young  fellow.”  He  then  told 
a  very  striking  and  vivid  experience  in  which  he  said, 
“  It  seemed  to  me  that  every  sin  I  had  ever  committed, 
and  some  I  had  not  thought  of  in  years,  all  unfolded 
before  me.”  Said  he.  “  My  body  was  as  good  as  dead, 
but  my  mind  was  working  like  lightning.”  It  is  not  only 
the  teaching  of  psychology  that  the  memories  of  men  in 
times  of  sudden  and  unexpected  calamities  recall  the 
deeds  of  the  past  like  a  panoramic  vision,  but  it  is  the 
actual  experience  of  men.  Joseph’s  brothers  were  un¬ 
expectedly  thrust  into  prison.  They  were  expecting  no 


18 


DOES  RELIGION  PAY? 


trouble.  They  had  their  money  to  pay  for  what  they 
bought,  they  expected  to  pay  their  bills  and  return.  How¬ 
ever,  they  were  very  unceremoniously  and  unexpectedly 
jerked  up  and  thrown  into  prison.  I  imagine  their  minds 
were  working  like  lightning — there  were  unfolding  before 
their  eyes  (in  memory)  the  deeds  of  the  past,  and  that 
sin  which  towered  above  every  other  sin  in  their  lives  as 
the  mountains  tower  above  the  hills,  was  the  sin  which 
they  had  committed  against  their  brother  Joseph.  No 
wonder  they  exclaimed  :  “  We  saw  ” — “  We  saw  the 
anguish  of  our  brother  when  he  besought  us,  and  we 
would  not  hear  him ;  therefore  is  this  distress  come  upon 
us.”  Memory  was  performing  its  natural  function  and 
to  their  great  consternation.  “  We  saw — we  saw.”  The 
deeds  we  commit  along  life’s  journey  leave  their  pictures 
hanging  in  memory’s  hall  whether  they  be  deeds  of  kind¬ 
ness  or  deeds  of  crime. 

2.  It  seems  to  be  a  psychological  fact  too,  that  time 
does  not  erase  memory's  pictures.  The  master-painter 
comes  along  with  his  canvas,  his  paint,  and  his  brush  and 
with  a  few  strokes  of  his  master-hand  he  makes  us  to 
see  towering  mountains,  verdant  valleys,  and  sparkling 
lakes.  But  time  will  destroy  that  picture ;  the  colors  will 
fade,  the  canvas  will  crumble,  and  the  picture  will  perish 
in  course  of  time.  When  a  student  in  the  University  of 
Chicago,  I  took  a  course  in  “  Christian  Art.”  I  did  not 
take  painting.  I  cannot  paint  anything.  We  studied  art 
as  art.  Prof.  Franklin  Johnson,  who  was  the  teacher  of 
the  course,  would  throw  the  pictures  on  the  canvas,  and 
we  would  criticize  them.  He  would  frequently  say, 
“  Now,  young  men,  that  picture  I  took  myself  in  the 
Catacombs  [Many  of  you  know  that  under  the  City  of 
Rome  there  is  another  city,  where  the  early  Christians 
who  were  persecuted  had  their  chapels  for  worship,  their 


SIN  SELF-RETRIBUTIVE 


19 


baptisteries  and  their  cemeteries.  Doctor  Johnson  had 
been  in  these  places  and  had  taken  many  pictures],  but 
that  picture  has  been  touched  up  in  different  ages  and 
kept  intact  or  it  would  have  perished  long  ago.” 

That  does  not  seem  to  be  true  of  memory’s  pictures. 
They  do  not  need  to  be  touched  up  to  be  kept  intact.  It 
had  been  nearly  two  decades  since  these  brothers  pulled 
Joseph  up  out  of  that  pit  in  the  land  of  Canaan,  but  they 
could  see  there  that  day  in  the  prison-house  in  Egypt 
that  agony  which  was  depicted  in  his  face  when  he  plead 
with  them  to  spare  him  and  they  would  not.  And  I 
imagine  that  they  could  see  that  agony  that  day  just  as 
vividly  as  they  saw  it  nearly  twenty  years  before  on  the 
plains  of  Dothan.  Yes,  they  “  saw,”  and  could  still  see 
the  agony  expressed  in  Joseph’s  face. 

There  is  a  case  of  a  lunatic  who  had  been  many  years 
in  an  asylum.  He  finally  escaped,  and  a  searching-party 
found  him  out  over  an  old  deserted  coal-shaft.  They 
could  hear  him  mumbling  something  and  see  him  going 
through  certain  motions.  They  slipped  up  close  enough 
to  hear  what  he  was  saying.  He  was  saying :  “  Down, 
down,  down  he  goes.  My  God,  how  he  flies.  Now  he’s 
at  the  bottom.”  He  would  tear  his  hair  and  repeat  the 
same  thing  over  and  over  again.  They  wondered  what 
he  meant.  They  thought  perhaps  it  was  only  the  ravings 
of  a  mad  man,  but  after  they  had  captured  the  lunatic 
and  carried  him  back  to  the  asylum,  they  decided  to  in¬ 
vestigate.  And  when  they  reached  the  bottom  of  that 
old  coal-shaft  they  found  there  the  skeleton  of  a  man. 
A  mystery  was  then  solved,  for  some  years  before  this 
man  became  a  lunatic  and  was  put  in  the  asylum,  a  man 
had  mysteriously  disappeared  from  that  community; 
nobody  could  account  for  his  disappearance,  no  motive 
could  be  given,  no  trace  could  be  found  of  him.  But  the 


20 


DOES  RELIGION  PAY? 


mystery  was  now  solved.  This  man  had  murdered  that 
man  and  thrown  his  body  down  this  old  coal-shaft.  He 
remembered  how  that  body  went  hurtling,  hurtling  down, 
and  with  a  heavy  thud  hit  the  bottom.  Though  he  had 
become  a  raving  maniac,  and  perhaps  as  a  result  of  this 
very  crime  preying  upon  his  mind,  as  soon  as  he  had  his 
liberty  he  went  back  and  was  going  through  that  awful 
crime  again.  Reason  had  been  dethroned,  but  memory 
was  intact.  Time  had  not  dimmed  the  picture  Joseph’s 
brothers  saw  when  they  pulled  him  out  of  the  pit  and 
sold  him  as  a  slave.  They  “  saw  ”  and  could  see  that 
picture  still.  Memory  doing  its  awful  work ! 

3.  Whether  memory  is  a  source  of  pleasure  or  a  curse 
to  one  just  depends  on  the'  pictures  hung  in  memory's 
hall.  Every  deed  leaves  its  picture  in  memory’s  hall,  and 
if  you  would  have  the  past  filled  with  pleasant  pictures 
you  must  have  the  present  filled  with  pleasant  deeds. 
You  cannot  go  back  and  reset  your  pictures.  You  pass 
this  way  but  once  and  so  must  set  your  pictures  as  you 
go.  If  you  live  long  enough  you  will  be  living  in  the 
past.  Old  people  live  in  the  past. 

In  my  imagination,  I  can  see  an  old  man  and  his  wife 
in  the  evening  of  life ;  the  sun  has  fallen  behind  the 
western  hills ;  “  the  frost  is  on  the  pumpkin,  and  the 
fodder  is  in  the  shock  ” ;  the  fire  is  crackling  in  the  grate ; 
the  old  house-cat  is  stretched  across  the  hearth ;  the  hus¬ 
band  sits  on  one  side  and  the  wife  on  the  other.  They 
have  not  a  word  to  say.  They  have  lived  so  long  together 
that  one  knows  what  the  other  knows ;  they  have  no 
secrets.  As  they  sit  and  look  at  each  other  they  are 
thinking  of  the  time  when  they,  as  a  young  husband  and 
wife,  started  out  to  build  a  home  and  rear  a  family  for 
the  glory  of  God  and  the  good  of  society.  They  see  those 
splendid  sons  and  lovely  daughters  who  now  have  homes 


SIN  SELF-RETRIBUTIVE 


21 


of  their  own,  and  who  are  a  blessing  to  society  and  an 
honor  to  religion.  As  they  pass  around  memory’s  hall 
they  see  yonder  where  they  helped  the  widow  and  orphans 
in  their  distress ;  yonder  they  took  up  that  poor  boy  and 
gave  him  a  home ;  yonder  is  where  they  took  in  the  un¬ 
fortunate  girl  who  had  been  kicked  out  of  her  father’s 
home  because  she  had  been  betrayed  into  sin ;  here  is 
where  they  built  the  mission  chapel,  and  yonder  is  where 
they  endowed  the  college.  Everywhere  they  turn  they 
see  deeds  of  kindness  and  helpfulness.  No  wonder  they 
doze  off  and  startle  in  their  dreams  and  look  around  to 
see  if  they  are  really  in  the  New  Jerusalem.  That  is  a 
foretaste  of  heaven  on  earth.  But  in  my  imagination  I 
see  yonder  another  picture.  I  see  an  old  man  on  a  pallet 
of  straw — a  mass  of  aching  bones  and  quivering  flesh.  I 
see  the  marks  of  sin  everywhere  on  his  face.  With  him, 
memory  is  doing  its  awful  work.  As  he  passes  through 
memory’s  hall  he  sees  yonder  where  he  deceived  and 
debauched  a  young  woman,  started  her  in  a  life  of  sin. 
She  has  paid  the  penalty  long  ago ;  yonder  he  sees  where 
he  started  a  boy  in  a  life  of  sin — he’s  paid  the  penalty 
on  the  gallows ;  yonder  is  where  he  robbed  the  bank ; 
yonder  is  where  he  wrecked  the  train ;  yonder  is  where  he 
committed  murder.  Everywhere  he  turns  he  sees  wreck 
and  ruin.  No  wonder  he  cries  out  in  his  delirium  and 
says,  “  The  demons,  the  demons,”  and  has  to  be  chained 
down  to  keep  him  from  doing  himself  bodily  harm.  My 
friends,  do  you  think  that  man  would  need  any  fire  in 
hell  to  make  it  a  hell  for  him?  Think  what  you  may 
about  fire  in  hell,  that  would  be  a  hell  for  him  so  long  as 
that  memory  lives  with  those  pictures  in  it.  Yes,  memory 
will  be  there.  Abraham  said  to  the  rich  man  in  hell, 
“  Son,  remember.” 

My  friends,  what  kind  of  pictures  are  you  hanging  in 

c 


22 


DOES  RELIGION  PAY? 


memory’s  hall,  as  you  pass  through  this  life?  Some  day 
you  may  be  saying,  “We  saw.” 

Now,  having  noticed  memory  recalling,  let  us  notice 

II.  Conscience  Accusing 

“  We  are  verily  guilty.” 

Who  said  they  were  guilty?  Nobody  there  knew  any¬ 
thing  about  their  guilt  but  Joseph,  and  they  did  not  know 
that  Joseph  knew,  for  they  did  not  recognize  him.  It  was 
their  guilty  consciences  accusing. 

1.  A  guilty  conscience  accuses  when  no  one  else  does. 
There  was  no  one  present  to  suggest  their  guilt  but  their 
own  guilty  consciences.  A  man  with  a  guilty  conscience 
needs  no  other  accuser.  A  guilty  conscience  is  the  worst 
enemy  one  can  have,  and  an  enemy  from  which  one  can¬ 
not  escape.  You  can  get  some  respite  from  any  other 
enemy;  you  can  get  away  from  him  and  forget  him  for 
at  least  a  time,  but  from  a  guilty  conscience  you  can 
never  escape,  day  or  night.  It  will  walk  by  your  side 
as  you  walk  the  streets,  it  will  sit  by  your  plate  as  you 
eat  your  meals,  and  it  will  rest  on  your  bosom  at  night 
in  your  dreams  like  a  horrid  nightmare.  A  guilty  con¬ 
science  will  accuse  when  no  one  else  is  present  who  knows 
of  the  guilt.  “  Be  sure  your  sin  will  find  you  out.” 
Now,  that  Scripture  does  not  say,  “  Be  sure  the  people 
will  find  out  about  your  sin,”  but  “  BE  SURE  YOUR 
SIN  WILL  FIND"  YOU  OUT.”  It  is  a  great  deal 
worse  for  your  sin  to  find  YOU  out  than  it  is  to  have 
the  pepole  find  out  your  sin.  What  was  the  trouble  with 
Lady  Macbeth  when  she  washed  her  hands  and  perfumed 
them,  and  yet  could  not  get  rid  of  the  stain  nor  the  scent 
of  blood?  Ah,  that  blood  was  not  on  her  hands,  it  was 
on  her  conscience.  What  was  the  trouble  with  Jean  Val 
Jean  in  Victor  Hugo’s  great  novel,  when  he  came  down 


SIN  SELF-RETRIBUTIVE 


23 


and  took  his  stand  by  the  side  of  the  convicts  and  con¬ 
fessed  that  he  was  an  escaped  convict?  Nobody  knew 
of  his  guilt.  To  all  appearances  he  was  an  honorable 
and  upright  citizen,  living  an  exemplary  life.  It  was 
his  guilty  conscience.  His  sin  had  found  him  out,  and 
he  could  no  longer  stand  the  lashings  of  a  guilty 
conscience. 

What  was  the  trouble  with  Herod  after  the  death  of 
John  the  Baptist,  when  Christ  was  performing  his  won¬ 
derful  works,  and  Herod  said,  “  It  is  John  the  Baptist  ”? 
Why  did  he  think  it  was  John?  Nobody  else  thought  so. 
It  was  Herod’s  guilty  conscience.  He  had  put  John  to 
death  without  cause,  and  he  thought  John  had  come  back 
to  requite  him  for  his  sin.  What  was  the  trouble  with 
Ahab  when  Elijah  came  and  met  him  in  Naboth’s  vine¬ 
yard?  Ahab  said  to  Elijah,  “Blast  thou  found  me,  O 
mine  enemy?  ”  Why  did  he  call  the  prophet  his  enemy? 
The  last  time  they  separated,  they  separated  friends;  and 
why  should  he  now  think  Elijah  was  his  enemy?  The 
very  place  where  they  met  tells  the  story.  It  was  in 
Naboth's  vineyard.  Naboth  whom  he  had  foully  mur¬ 
dered  and  whose  vineyard  he  had  taken  possession  of 
without  right !  The  very  appearance  of  the  prophet  made 
Ahab’s  guilty  conscience  rise  up  and  smite  him.  “  Sin 
doth  make  cowards  of  us  all.” 

2.  If  our  consciences  accuse  us,  what  about  God  who 
is  greater  than  our  consciences ?  Surely,  if  we  condemn 
ourselves,  the  God  of  all  holiness  and  perfection  cannot 
hold  us  guiltless.  “  We  are  verily  guilty,”  says  the  con¬ 
science  of  every  guilty  sinner,  and  thank  God  that  it  is 
so.  In  this  is  our  hope. 

3.  The  only  way  to  have  a  good  conscience  is  to  have  a 
clean  heart.  We  are  so  constituted  that  we  cannot  be 
happy  with  the  guilt  of  sin  on  us.  And  it  is  a  fine  thing 


24 


DOES  RELIGION  PAY? 


that  this  is  true.  That  is  the  very  thing  that  causes  us  to 
seek  relief  from  our  guilt.  The  old  Greeks,  a  long  time 
ago,  without  any  Bible  knew  man  could  not  be  happy 
with  the  guilt  of  his  sin  on  him,  and  so  the  Greeks  at  death 
were  made  to  pass  through  the  fabulous  waters,  the 
Lethean  waters,  or  waters  of  forgetfulness,  so  they  could 
pass  out  into  the  Elysian  Fields,  or  the  Greeks’  Paradise, 
and  be  happy.  The  old  Greek  knew  man  could  not  be 
happy  even  in  Paradise  with  the  guilt  of  sin  on  him,  and 
so  he  had  to  devise  some  plan  by  which  he  could  forget 
his  sin  and  leave  its  guilt  behind.  But,  friends,  I  do  not 
invite  you  tonight  to  the  fabulous  waters  of  Lethe,  but 
to  that  fountain  opened  up  in  the  house  of  King  David 
for  sin  and  uncleanness.  Yes, 

There  is  a  fountain  filled  with  blood, 

Drawn  from  Immanuel’s  veins; 

And  sinners,  plunged  beneath  that  flood, 

Lose  all  their  guilty  stains. 

The  dying  thief  rejoiced  to  see 
That  fountain  in  his  day; 

And  there  may  I,  though  vile  as  he, 

Wash  all  my  sins  away. 

Here  is  the  fountain  of  forgetfulness,  dear  lost  sinner, 
and  the  only  fountain  from  which  you  can  get  cleansing. 
It  is  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ  that  can  destroy  the  power 
and  remove  the  guilt  of  sin  and  transform  life.  Oh,  that 
gnawing,  guilty  conscience.  There  may  be  some  man 
here  this  night  who  would  give  his  right  arm  if  he  could 
get  rid  of  his  guilty  conscience.  The  murderer  tonight 
may  hear  the  death-groan,  and  feel  the  icy  hand  of  his 
victim  clutching  for  his  throat.  Oh,  for  relief  !  There  is 
but  one  remedy — the  blood.  Come  under  the  blood. 

The  third  and  last  point  I  wish  to  notice  is : 


SIN  SELF-RETRIBUTIVE 


25 


III.  Reason  Condemning 

“  Therefore  is  this  distress  come  upon  us.”  You  will 
observe  how  these  men  reason  out,  justly  and  logically, 
their  own  condemnation.  “  Therefore,”  because  of  this 
fact. 

1.  Reason  calls  for  the  punishment  of  sin.  There  is 
not  a  reasonable  man,  nor  a  reasoning  man  living  but  will 
admit  that  sin  must  be  punished  somewhere,  somehow, 
and  to  some  extent.  The  thief  who  died  on  the  cross  by 
the  Saviour  said,  “  We  are  receiving  the  due  rewards  of 
our  deeds.”  He  knew  his  sin  deserved  punishment.  Bob 
Ingersoll  said :  “  I  believe  in  eternal,  everlasting,  inexor¬ 
able  justice;  that’s  my  doctrine.”  When  Bob  Ingersoll 
said,  “  I  believe  in  eternal,  everlasting,  inexorable  justice,” 
he  said  he  believed  that  every  sin  must  be  adequately 
punished,  for  that  is  strict  justice.  Now,  the  man  of 
reason  might  say,  “  Yes,  I  believe  every  sin  must  be 
punished,  but  I  do  not  believe  in  a  punishment  out  of 
proportion  to  the  sin  committed.”  All  right,  that  is  all 
I  would  ask  you  to  admit.  If  you  do  not  believe  in  a 
punishment  “  out  of  proportion,”  you  believe  in  a  punish¬ 
ment  that  is  in  proportion.  That  is  the  logic  of  it.  Your 
statement  means,  then,  that  every  sin  must  be  punished 
and  must  be  adequately  punished.  “  Yes,”  says  the  man 
of  reason.  “  I  believe  every  sin  must  be  adequately  pun¬ 
ished,  but  I  believe  all  sins  are  adequately  punished  in 
this  life.”  I  can  prove  to  any  man  with  a  logical  mind 
that  not  all  sins  are  adequately  punished  in  this  life. 
Suppose  a  villain  comes  into  your  community  and  out¬ 
rages  and  murders  one  of  your  innocent,  sweet  girls, 
and  he  is  captured  and  hung  up  by  the  neck  until  he  is 
dead  (either  by  the  mob  or  by  the  law)  ;  now  do  you 
believe  that  is  an  adequate  punishment  ?  The  reply  is, 


26 


DOES  RELIGION  PAY? 


“  Yes,  he  ought  to  die.”  Let  me  say  just  here  that  it 
is  better  always  to  let  the  law  take  its  course.  We 
have  no  right  to  take  a  man  out  and  take  his  life  with¬ 
out  the  sanction  of  law,  and  when  we  do  it,  we  add 
crime  to  crime.  I  was  in  a  meeting  in  Franklin,  Ken¬ 
tucky,  when  the  guard  killed  six  men  in  Lexington, 
who  were  trying  to  take  the  negro,  Will  Luckett,  out 
of  the  hands  of  the  law  to  murder  him.  I  said  that 
night  in  Franklin,  when  there  was  much  excitement 
and  some  condemnation  of  the  Governor  for  allowing 
six  men  to  be  killed  in  protecting  the  life  of  one  negro 
criminal  who  deserved  death,  and  was  already  sen¬ 
tenced  to  die,  that  Governor  Morrow  did  his  duty,  and 
that  those  officers  did  their  duty,  and  if  it  had  been 
necessary  they  ought  to  have  killed  a  thousand  men, 
not  to  protect  the  life  of  the  negro  (that  was  already 
forfeited),  but  to  protect  the  honor  of  the  State  and 
the  majesty  of  the  law.  Mob  violence  is  never  justi¬ 
fiable,  and  such  things  breed  contempt  for  law  and 
make  both  life  and  property  unsafe.  We  must  uphold 
the  majesty  of  the  law.  But  to  the  man  of  reason,  I 
reply  that  you  admit  that  every  sin  must  be  punished, 
and  that  every  sin  must  be  adequately  punished,  and 
that  hanging  is  an  adequate  punishment  for  that  crime. 
Then  what  about  the  man  who  commits  that  crime 
and  escapes  the  gallows,  and  some  do?  The  negro 
Luckett,  whom  I  have  just  mentioned,  admitted  be¬ 
fore  executed  that  he  had  outraged  and  murdered  three 
other  women,  and  he  had  escaped  the  penalty  in  the 
other  cases.  If  all  sins  must  be  adequately  punished, 
and  if  hanging  is  an  adequate  punishment  for  that 
crime,  then  there  must  be  a  place  beyond  this  life 
where  the  wrongs  shall  be  righted,  for  not  all  sins  are 
adequately  punished  here. 


SIN  SELF-RETRIBUTIVE 


27 


The  man  of  reason  might  reply,  however,  “  Yes,  I  be¬ 
lieve  every  sin  must  be  adequately  punished,  and  I  admit 
that  not  all  sins  are  adequately  punished  here,  but  I  do  not 
believe  that  a  man  in  this  short  life  can  commit  sins 
enough  to  justify  eternal  punishment.”  Now,  my  friend, 
how  did  you  learn  that  the  punishment  of  a  crime  depends 
on  the  length  of  time  it  takes  to  commit  it?  I  can  prove 
to  any  man  of  logical  mind  that  the  time  element  never 
enters  into  the  degree  of  a  crime.  It  might  take  a  man 
half  the  night  to  break  into  my  pantry  and  steal  a 
loaf  of  bread,  but  that  same  man  might  draw  his 
revolver  and  blow  my  brains  out  in  a  moment  of  time, 
I  say  to  the  man  of  reason,  Which  is  the  greater  crime? 
He  says,  “  The  latter,  to  be  sure.”  When  you  admit  that, 
you  then  and  there  eliminate  the  time  element  from  the 
degree  of  a  crime.  I  never  heard  a  lawyer,  with  all 
the  tricks  of  the  trade,  who  would  stoop  so  low  as  to 
say,  “  My  client  does  not  deserve  much  punishment 
because  it  did  not  take  him  long  to  commit  the  crime.” 
Then,  further,  it  is  well  to  remember  that  condemna¬ 
tion  is  not  in  the  number  of  sins,  nor  the  degree  of 
sins  committed,  but  in  the  fact  of  sin.  “  The  soul 
that  sinneth,  it  shall  die."  It  does  not  say,  “  The  soul 
that  commits  forty  thousand  sins  shall  die.” 

Now  it  so  happens  that  reason  and  God’s  word  are 
agreed  on  these  points.  The  Bible  teaches  that  every 
sin  shall  be  punished  and  that  every  sin  shall  be  ade¬ 
quately  punished,  for  every  deed  shall  receive  a  due 
recompense  of  reward.  That  is  adequate  punishment. 
The  Bible  also  teaches  that  not  all  sins  are  adequately 
punished  in  this  life.  David  says  in  the  Seventy-third 
Psalm.  “  When  I  beheld  the  prosperity  of  the  wicked 
and  saw  how  his  eyes  stood  out  with  fatness,  and  that 
he  had  more  than  heart  could  wish,  and  that  the  Lord 


28 


DOES  RELIGION  PAY? 


did  not  chastise  him  every  morning  as  he  did  me,  I  was 
envious,  my  feet  had  well  nigh  slipped,  I  said,  I  have 
cleansed  my  heart  in  vain.”  But  after  David  went 
into  the  sanctuary  of  God,  he  said,  “  Then  understood 
I  their  end.”  He  then  admits  that  he  was  foolish, 
ignorant,  and  brutish  to  think  such  thoughts.  David 
is  simply  saying  that  God  does  not  always  reward  the 
wicked  here ;  that  he  often  flourishes  apparently  more 
than  the  righteous,  but  that  in  the  latter  end  the 
wicked  will  be  brought  into  desolation  and  utterly 
consumed  with  terrors.  Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  both 
reason  and  the  Bible  teach  that  every  sin  must  be 
punished,  that  every  sin  must  be  adequately  punished, 
that  not  all  sins  are  adequately  punished  in  this  life; 
therefore  reason  and  the  Bible  demand  a  place  beyond 
this  life  where  sin  shall  be  adequately  punished,  where 
the  wrong  shall  be  righted. 

The  physician  who  opens  up  your  disease  and  con¬ 
vinces  you  that  you  are  in  a  terrible  condition  and  then 
offers  you  no  remedy,  renders  you  no  service ;  but  that 
physician  who  shows  you  your  true  condition  and  then 
offers  you  a  remedy,  an  infallible  remedy,  and  one 
within  your  reach — yea,  without  money  and  without 
price — is  your  friend.  Tonight  I  have  shown  you  the 
awfulness  of  sin,  and  now  I  come  to  you  with  the 
remedy,  the  only  remedy — the  blood.  “  The  blood  of 
Jesus  Christ,  his  Son,  cleanseth  us  from  all  sin.” 
“  Whosoever  will  mav  come,”  and  “  Him  that  cometh 
unto  me,  I  will  in  no  wise  cast  out.”  Lost  man  or 
woman,  are  you  tired  of  sin,  would  you  like  to  have 
relief  from  the  guilt  and  power  of  sin  this  night?  Do 
you  feel  godly  sorrow  working  in  your  heart?  Then 
believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  you  shall  be 
saved.  Will  you  come  while  we  sing? 


Ill 


A  MESSAGE  FROM  HELL  TO  THOSE  ON  THE 

WAY 

“  I  pray  thee  therefore,  father,  that  thou  wouldest  send  Lazarus 
to  my  father’s  house :  for  I  have  five  brothers ;  that  he  may  testify 
unto  them,  lest  they  also  come  into  this  place  of  torment.”— Luke 
16  :  27,  28. 

No  doubt  some  in  this  congregation  think  there  is  no 
text  for  this  subject,  but  I  think  I  can  show  you  that 
there  is  one.  The  rich  man  in  hell  cried  to  Father  Abra¬ 
ham  and  said :  “  I  pray  thee  therefore,  father,  that  thou 
wouldest  send  Lazarus  to  my  father's  house :  for  I  have 
five  brothers ;  that  he  may  testify  unto  them,  lest  they  also 
conic  into  tJiis  place  of  torment  .”  This  is  a  message  from 
hell,  a  message  from  the  rich  man  in  hell — he  wanted  to 
send  to  his  brothers  who  were  on  the  way.  The  message 
is  that  they  “  come  not  into  this  place  of  torment.” 

There  are  several  things  suggested  by  this  text :  First, 
that  there  is  a  hell,  however  much  some  may  doubt  it ; 
secondly,  that  there  are  those  in  hell,  however  undesirable 
this  may  be;  thirdly,  that  hell  is  a  place  of  undesirable 
abode,  however  many  go  there.  Now,  I  do  not  preach 
on  this  subject  because  it  is  pleasant  to  harrow  your 
feelings  and  exasperate  your  spirits,  but  I  do  it  to  be  true 
to  you,  true  to  God,  and  true  to  myself.  I  am  inclined 
to  think  that  the  unpleasantness  of  the  subject  is  the  very 
reason  why  we  have  so  little  preaching  on  hell.  No  doubt 
if  we  had  more  preaching  on  hell,  we  should  have  fewer 
people  going  to  hell.  If  we  had  more  hell  in  the  pulpit, 

29 


30 


DOES  RELIGION  PAY? 


we  should  have  less  hell  in  the  pew.  It  is  the  business  of 
the  preacher  to  acquaint  people  with  that  place  to  which 
they  are  fast  tending,  and  men  would  better  be  disturbed 
in  their  sins  than  to  be  damned  for  their  sins. 

I  am  by  this  subject  very  much  as  my  oldest  boy  was 
by  his  cat.  1  When  my  second  son,  William  D.,  Jr.,  was 
born  (August  16,  1898),  my  oldest  son,  Dudley  C.,  was 
a  few  years  old,  and  while  the  mother  was  sick  the  cook 
failed  to  come  one  morning.  Mrs.  Nowlin’s  mother  who 
lived  with  us  said  to  me,  “  The  cook  hasn’t  come  and  it 
is  getting  late,  so  you  go  and  make  a  fire  in  the  stove,  and 
I’ll  get  breakfast.”  Well,  I  went  out  and  made  the  fire, 
and  while  out  I  examined  and  found  that  there  was 
plenty  cooked  for  breakfast,  so  I  said,  “  Mother,  I  don’t 
think  you  will  have  to  cook  anything,  just  warm  up  some 
breakfast.”  She  went  out  and  fried  some  breakfast 
bacon,  made  some  coffee,  and  warmed  up  some  biscuits, 
and  that  was  our  breakfast  that  morning.  As  soon  as  I 
had  returned  thanks  that  boy  of  mine  looked  over  the 
table  and  said,  “  What  in  the  world  is  the  matter  with 
this  breakfast  this  morning?”  His  grandmother  said: 
“  There  is  nothing  the  matter ;  the  cook  didn’t  come,  and 
I  had  to  get  breakfast  this  morning.”  The  boy  replied, 
“  I  never  saw  such  a  breakfast  as  this  before.”  Grand¬ 
mother  said,  “  Well,  you  hush  and  don’t  make  any  further 
comments  on  the  breakfast.”  The  boy  said  nothing  more, 
but  while  he  was  eating,  his  little  cat  about  half -grown 
climbed  up  into  his  chair  and  was  peeping  upon  the  table. 
The  boy  deliberately  picked  up  the  cat  and  held  it  up  over 
the  table  without  a  word.  I  said,  “  Son,  what  do  you 
mean?  ”  He  said,  “  Papa,  I  thought  if  this  cat  could  see 
what  is  on  the  table  it  would  not  be  so  anxious  to  get  up 


1  Many  evangelists  are  using  this  story,  and  some  of  them  have  it  badly 
mixed,  and  badly  located.  It  occurred  in  Nicholasville,  Kentucky,  in  August, 
1898,  while  I  was  in  my  first  pastorate,  after  leaving  the  seminary. 


A  MESSAGE  FROM  HELL 


31 


here.”  Now  I  feel  very  much  the  same  way  about  hell. 
If  I  could  hold  you  over  hell  and  let  you  see  what  hell  is, 
you  would  not  be  so  anxious  to  go  there.  I  think  this 
is  the  reason  why  the  Lord  said  so  much  about  hell ;  that 
people  might  get  some  conception  of  its  horrors,  and  thus 
flee  the  wrath  to  come.  In  much  of  current  preaching- 
hell  is  conspicuous  only  by  its  absence. 

A  few  years  ago  I  read  an  article  in  one  of  our  religious 
journals  on  “  Hell  Fading  Out.”  The  writer  claimed  to 
be  a  Christian,  but  he  was  rejoicing  because  hell  was 
fading  out  of  the  public  mind.  He  said  that  “  Most  Cal- 
vinistic  preachers  will  not  now  preach  the  old-time  terrible 
views  of  eternal  punishment,  and  if  they  did  the  people 
would  not  hear  them.”  He  went  on  to  say,  “  Hell 
is  not  so  hot  a  place  now  as  it  was  when  we  were  boys.” 
Now  if  hell  has  cooled  off  any  since  Jonathan  Edwards 
preached  that  memorable  sermon  of  his,  “  The  Sinner  in 
the  Hands  of  an  Angry  God,”  when  men  seized  the  pews 
in  front  of  them  to  keep  from  slipping  into  hell,  and 
when  they  imagined  they  could  hear  the  souls  of  the 
damned  writhing  in  the  flames  of  hell,  we  have  had  no 
information  to  that  effect.  I  grant  you  that  the  preach¬ 
ing  on  hell  may  have  cooled  down  considerably  since  then, 
but  if  hell  has  cooled  down  any  we  have  not  been  so  in- 
formed.  A  good  many  other  things  fade  out  of  the 
public  mind  just  in  proportion  as  the  old  doctrine  of  eter¬ 
nal  punishment  fades  out.  No  man  can  love  God  more 
than  he  hates  the  devil,  and  no  man  can  desire  to  gain 
heaven  more  than  he  desires  to  shun  hell,  for  one  is  the 
antithesis  of  the  other.  We  could  not  have  a  heaven 
without  a  hell ;  we  might  have  a  hell  without  a  heaven. 
If  all  the  wicked — those  who  love  sin  and  hate  God — 
could  be  turned  into  heaven,  heaven  itself  would  be  a 
veritable  hell.  Yes,  when  we  quit  preaching  hell  we 


32 


DOES  RELIGION  PAY? 


would  just  as  well  quit  preaching  heaven-— the  Book 
teaches  both. 


I.  There  Is  a  Hell 

Whenever  you  prove  that  there  is  a  man  in  the  peni¬ 
tentiary  at  Frankfort  you  prove  that  there  is  a  peniten¬ 
tiary  in  Frankfort,  for  you  could  not  have  a  man  in  the 
penitentiary  in  Frankfort  if  there  were  no  penitentiary 
in  Frankfort.  Whenever  you  prove  that  there  is  a  man 
in  hell  you  prove  that  there  is  a  hell.  There  could  not 
be  a  man  in  hell  if  there  were  no  hell.  Jesus  says  this 
rich  man  “  lifted  up  his  eyes  in  hell,  being  in  torment.” 
If  there  is  one  man  in  hell  then  there  is  a  hell,  and 
Jesus  says  this  man  is  in  hell.  Some  seem  to  think  that 
because  they  do  not  believe  in  a  hell,  for  them  at  least, 
there  is  no  hell.  Your  failing  to  believe  a  fact  does  not 
change  the  fact.  You  may  not  believe  in  the  effects  of 
strychnine,  but  you  take  a  dose  tonight  and  tomorrow 
morning  you  will  not  believe  anything.  The  fact  that 
some  believe  there  is  no  hell  is  all  the  greater  reason  why 
we  should  preach  the  doctrine  of  hell. 

1.  Hell  is  a  place.  I  do  not  know  why  some  people  have 
undertaken  to  convince  themselves  and  others  that  hell 
is  not  a  place,  unless  it  is  to  get  rid  of  a  personal  devil. 
Of  course,  if  hell  is  not  a  place  the  devil  is  not  a  person. 
If  the  devil  is  a  person,  he  is  in  a  place.  But  what  have 
they  gained  when  they  admit  that  hell  is  a  state  or  condi¬ 
tion,  and  the  devil  an  evil  influence?  If  they  have  a 
state,  or  condition,  as  bad  as  hell,  and  an  evil  influence 
as  wicked  as  the  devil,  and  one  which  does  the  work  of  a 
devil  and  a  work  which  no  one  but  a  devil  would  do,  what 
have  they  gained?  I  think  I  would  just  as  soon  be  in  a 
hell  of  place  as  in  a  hell  of  condition ;  and  I  would  rather 
combat  a  devil  of  person  than  a  devil  of  influence.  Every 


A  MESSAGE  FROM  HELL 


33 


principle  and  argument  that  will  prove  that  hell  is  not  a 
place  will  prove  that  heaven  is  not  a  place.  But  some  one 
replies  that  Jesus  went  to  prepare  us  a  PLACE.  Yes, 
and  Judas  went  to  hell,  as  I  will  show  later  on,  and  the 
Bible  says  “  Judas  went  to  his  own  PLACE.”  The  Bible 
teaches  just  as  positively  that  hell  is  a  place  as  it  teaches 
that  heaven  is  a  place,  and  the  argument  that  will  do  away 
with  one  will  do  away  with  the  other. 

2.  Hell  is  a  place  of  suffering.  It  would  not  be  so  bad 
to  think  of  hell  as  a  place  if  we  could  think  of  it  apart 
from  suffering.  But  the  only  message  we  have  which 
has  come  from  that  place  is  this  one  telling  of  its  awful 
suffering — “  I  am  tormented  in  this  flame.”  But  some 
one  says,  “  I  thought  educated  preachers  had  quit  preach¬ 
ing  hell-fire  and  brimstone.”  Well,  may  be  they  have, 
but  the  Bible  has  not  quit  teaching  it.  It  is  not  a  question 
of  what  I  believe,  or  what  you  believe,  but  what  God 
teaches.  And  why  theorize  and  split  hairs  on  whether  it 
is  real  fire  or  figurative?  If  this  is  a  figure  of  speech, 
and  it  takes  this  figure  to  give  us  a  just  conception  of 
the  horrors  of  hell,  then  what  may  the  realities  be?  Then 
again,  if  the  one  who  is  in  hell  can  not  tell  whether  it  is 
real  fire  or  not,  what  difference  does  it  make?  The  rich 
man  thought  he  was  in  the  fire.  He  said,  “  I  am  tor¬ 
mented  in  this  flame.”  Yes,  hell  is  a  place  of  suffering, 
and  no  man  knows  the  depths  of  its  agony  or  the  black¬ 
ness  of  its  despair  until  he  lifts  up  his  eyes  and  sees 
through  the  flames  of  torment  as  did  this  mail. 

3.  Hell  is  a  place  of  eternal  suffering.  Oh,  it  would 
not  be  so  bad  to  think  of  hell  as  a  place  of  suffering  if 
we  only  had  some  assurance  that  this  suffering  would 
come  to  an  end  some  time.  The  doctrine  of  purgatory 
is  the  doctrine  of  Rome  and  not  the  doctrine  of  the  Bible. 
We  are  told  that  there  is  a  “  great  gulf  fixed  ” — not  tern- 


34 


DOES  RELIGION  PAY? 


porary,  but  a  fixture — so  that  no  one  can  pass  from  us 
to  you,  neither  can  any  one  pass  from  you  to  us.  That 
settles  the  doctrine  of  purgatory. 

No  man  can  believe  in  Jesus  Christ  as  the  Son  of  God 
and  the  Bible  as  the  word  of  God  and  not  believe  in  an 
eternal  hell,  for  Jesus  is  the  very  one  who  taught  the  doc¬ 
trine.  In  speaking  of  the  Gehenna  of  fire  where  the 
wicked  are  cast,  he  says  “  where  their  worm  dieth  not, 
and  the  fire  is  not  quenched.'’  It  does  not  say  where  the 
worm,  but  where  their  worm.  It  is  the  personal  pronoun 
— “  their  worm  dieth  not,  and  the  fire  is  not  quenched.” 
What  did  Jesus  mean  to  teach  there  if  he  did  not  mean 
that  the  living  principle,  or  personality,  could  not  die  and 
that  the  fire,  or  that  which  caused  the  suffering,  could  not 
cease?  Every  argument  that  will  prove  that  the  punish¬ 
ment  of  the  wicked  will  come  to  an  end,  will  prove  at 
the  same  time  that  the  joys  of  the  righteous  will  come 
to  an  end,  for  the  very  same  words  that  are  used  to 
describe  the  duration  of  heaven  are  used  to  describe  the 
duration  of  hell,  and  they  cannot  mean  one  thing  when 
used  in  connection  with  heaven  and  something  else  when 
used  in  connection  with  hell.  “  Eternal  life,”  “  eternal 
punishment  ” — “  everlasting  life,”  “  everlasting  punish¬ 
ment  ” — “  where  the  smoke  of  their  torment  ascendeth 
upward  forever  and  ever,  and  they  have  no  rest  day  nor 
night,”  “  where  their  worm  dieth  not,  and  the  fire  is  not 
quenched.”  “  Depart,  ye  cursed,  into  everlasting  fire 
prepared  for  the  devil  and  his  angels.”  That’s  what  the 
Book  says.  Do  you  believe  the  Book? 

Some  years  ago  when  a  young  man  I  was  in  the  drug 
business  at  Martin,  Tennessee.  I  owned  my  home  there. 
One  night  wife  and  I  were  sitting  in  front  of  a  good 
coal-fire ;  all  at  once  a  little  mouse  started  across  the 
hearth,  but  got  frightened  and  ran  under  the  grate  right 


A  MESSAGE  FROM  HELL 


35 


into  a  bed  of  live  coals.  The  little  thing  rolled  over 
writhing  in  the  fire.  Mrs.  Nowlin  turned  sick  and  ran 
out  of  the  room.  I  got  the  shovel  and  covered  it  up  and 
got  it  out  of  sight  as  soon  as  possible.  Now  that  was  my 
home,  but  if  that  little  mouse  could  not  have  died  and 
the  fire  could  not  have  gone  out,  I  would  have  moved 
away  and  left  it.  I  could  not  have  lived  there,  neither 
could  you,  with  that  little  thing  writhing  and  squirming 
in  agony  ;  always  dying,  and  yet  never  dead.  Now  that 
is  exactly  what  Jesus  teaches  when  he  says,  “  their  worm 
dieth  not  and  the  fire  is  not  quenched.’’  Just  as  heaven 
knows  no  end,  hell  knows  no  end.  It  is  one  eternal 
forever  and  ever. 


II.  Men  Go  to  Hell 

1.  The  rich  man  went  to  hell.  Men  go  to  hell,  how¬ 
ever  undesirable  this  may  be.  Here  is  a  man  in  hell,  for 
Jesus  says  so.  This  destroys  forever  the  doctrine  of 
universal  salvation.  You  only  have  to  prove  that  one 
man  is  lost  to  destroy  the  doctrine  of  universal  salvation. 
Jesus  says  this  man  is  in  hell.  Some  of  their  scholarly 
critics,  however,  might  reply  that  the  Greek  word  here 
translated  “  hell  "  is  not  the  Greek  word  which  means 
the  place  of  eternal  burning.  Ah,  whenever  they  say  that 
they  then  and  there  admit  that  there  is  such  a  word.  Now 
the  word  translated  here  “  hell  ”  is  not  Gehenna,  which 
means  the  place  of  eternal  burning,  but  Hades.  But  in 
all  the  other  Scriptures  I  read  the  word  translated  “  hell  ” 
is  Gehenna.  It  is  true  that  Hades  does  not  necessarily 
mean  the  place  of  eternal  punishment.  It  is  a  general 
term  for  the  unseen  world,  or  place  of  departed  spirits. 
But,  my  friends,  we  are  not  dependent  upon  the  meaning 
of  a  Greek  word  to  find  out  what  part  of  Hades  this  man 
is  in,  for  the  very  next  clause  says,  “  being  in  torment.” 


36 


DOES  RELIGION  PAY? 


This  tells  us  what  part  of  Hades  he  was  in.  Jesus  said 
he  was  in  torment,  Abraham  said  he  was  in  torment,  and 
the  rich  man  himself  said  he  was  in  torment.  There  are 
three  witnesses  all  saying  he  was  in  torment;  and  the 
Book  says,  “  In  the  mouth  of  two  or  three  witnesses  every 
word  shall  be  established.”  Calling  it  Hades  does  not 
change  the  torment.  You  might  call  it  heaven,  and  the 
man  would  be  in  torment  just  the  same.  Changing  the 
name  does  not  change  the  fact.  A  man  in  the  peni¬ 
tentiary  might  call  it  the  king’s  palace,  but  he  is  in  prison, 
nevertheless.  The  rich  man  is  in  hell — in  torment. 

I  wish  I  could  draw  the  curtain  here  and  say  that  no 
other  man  has,  or  ever  will,  go  to  hell,  but  I  cannot. 
There  is  at  least  one  other  man  in  hell. 

2.  Judas  went  to  hell.  The  Scriptures  teach  us  that 
the  man  who  betrays  the  Son  of  God  would  have  been 
better  off  if  he  had  never  been  born.  Judas  did  not  go 
to  heaven  when  he  died,  for  it  could  not  be  said  of  one 
who  is  safe  in  heaven,  “  Better  for  him  if  he  had  never 
been  born.”  Neither  could  he  have  been  annihilated  at 
death,  for  if  he  had  been  annihilated  he  would  have  been 
in  exactly  the  same  condition  he  would  have  been  in  if 
never  born — neither  better  nor  worse.  The  only  exis¬ 
tence  after  death  worse  than  non-existence  is  an  existence 
of  suffering,  so  if  Judas  is  in  a  state  of  existence  after 
death  worse  than  non-existence  he  is  in  hell.  Then  the 
Scriptures  tell  us  that  Judas  was  a  son  of  perdition  and 
went  to  his  own  place.  So  you  see  there  are  two  men  in 
hell.  This  thought  is  terrible  enough,  but  I  cannot  draw 
the  curtain  here  and  say  that  is  the  end  of  it ;  I  wish  I 
could. 

3.  Many  go  to  hell.  The  saddest  thought  of  all  is  the 
statement  of  Jesus  that  the  way  to  perdition  is  broad 
and  “  many  go  in  thereat.”  He  says  few  saved,  many 


A  MESSAGE  FROM  HELL 


37 


lost.  People  in  this  country  have  a  notion  that  nearly 
everybody  is  going  to  be  saved ;  that  the  old  drunken  sot 
or  murderer  or  gambler  will  be  lost,  but  that  every  one 
who  is  decent  will  be  saved.  You  do  not  have  to  be 
wicked  to  be  lost.  You  are  already  lost,  condemned  be¬ 
cause  you  have  not  believed  on  the  name  of  the  only 
begotten  Son  of  God.  It  is  true  that  “  the  wicked  will 
be  turned  into  hell,”  but  it  says,  “  with  all  the  nations 
that  forget  God.” 

Where  do  you  stand  tonight?  Are  you  in  the  broad 
road  with  the  many,  or  are  you  in  the  strait  and  narrow 
road  with  the  few?  Yes,  it  is  a  staggering  thought  that 
many  go  to  hell.  The  next  point  I  wish  to  notice  is 

III.  Those  in  Hell  Are  Concerned  for  Those 

on  the  Way 

Those  in  hell  are  concerned  about  those  on  the  way, 
because  hell  to  them  is  a  stern  reality,  not  a  myth  nor  a 
fable.  There  are  no  skeptics  in  hell.  Five  minutes  in 
hell  will  make  the  worst  skeptic  thoroughly  orthodox  on 
hell,  and  he  will  not  be  puzzling  his  brain  about  whether 
it  is  Hades  or  Gehenna,  either.  This  rich  man  remem¬ 
bered  his  brothers  who  were  on  the  way  to  hell,  and  he 
knew  what  they  needed — repentance.  He  said  if  one 
should  go  to  them  from  the  dead  they  would  repent.  This 
rich  man  knew  that  the  trouble  with  himself  was  that  he 
had  not  repented.  The  message  from  those  in  hell  to 
those  on  the  way  is  that  they  come  not  into  this  place  of 
torment ;  and  the  remedy  suggested  is  that  they  repent. 

Christian  friends,  if  the  damned  in  hell  are  concerned 
for  the  salvation  of  the  lost,  should  we  not  be  desperately 
concerned  for  them? 

Lost  man  or  woman,  if  you  are  so  unfortunate  as  to 
have  friends  or  loved  ones  in  hell  you  will  do  them  a 
D 


38 


DOES  RELIGION  PAY? 


favor  by  going  elsewhere.  They  do  not  want  you  there. 
Your  presence  would  make  their  state  all  the  more  miser¬ 
able. 

In  closing,  let  me  remind  you  that  there  are  but  two 
places  for  the  departed  spirits  of  men — hell  and  heaven. 
Where  will  you  spend  eternity?  You  have  the  choice 
tonight  between  heaven  and  hell,  which  will  you  accept? 
Salvation  is  not  universal,  but  the  offer  of  salvation  is 
universal.  Choose  ye  this  day  whom  ye  will  serve.  I 
set  life  and  death  before  you.  God  says,  “  If  you  accept 
life  you  shall  live,  but  if  you  accept  death  you  shall  die.” 
Do  not  let  the  devil  deceive  you  tonight,  but  open  up 
your  heart  and  let  Jesus  come  in. 


IV 


CHRIST'S  PROMISE  TO  THE  PENITENT  THIEF 

“  Today  shalt  thou  be  with  me  in  paradise.” — Luke  23  :  43. 

Christ  at  this  time  was  being  crucified  between  two 
thieves  and  that,  too,  while  the  people  were  railing  at  him 
to  save  himself  and  come  down  from  the  cross ;  these  two 
thieves  joined  with  them  in  their  railing,  but  one  of  them 
became  penitent  and,  rebuking  his  fellow  thief,  turned  to 
Jesus  and  said.  “  Lord,  when  thou  comest  into  thy  king¬ 
dom.  remember  me.”  Tesus  said  to  him.  “  Today  shalt 

y 

thou  be  with  me  in  paradise.”  There  are  those  who  tell 
us  that  Christ  did  not  make  this  man  any  promise  at  all, 
and  that  there  should  be  an  interrogation-point  after  this 
sentence.  “  It  does  not  say,  ‘  Thou  shalt  be  with  me  in 
paradise/'  but  shalt  thou,  which  indicates  that  it  should 
have  a  question-mark  after  it,’’  we  are  told.  Well,  if  that 
peculiar  phraseology  proves  that  it  is  a  question,  then  the 
same  phraseology  will  prove  the  same  thing  wherever 
found  in  the  Bible.  It  says,  “  Six  days  shalt  thou  labor, 
etc.”  Is  that  a  question?  There  is  that  same  phrase¬ 
ology.  “  Six  days  shalt  thou  labor.”  It  does  not  sav 
thou  shalt,  but  shalt  thou.  Do  you  think  God  was  asking 
a  question  there?  No  indeed,  that  is  one  of  the  Ten 
Commandments.  You  remember  when  Paul  took  an 
appeal  to  Caesar,  the  question  was  asked.  “  Hast  thou 
appealed  unto  Caesar?  ETito  Caesar  shalt  thou  go.”  Do 
you  think  that  was  a  question?  No,  sir,  that  was  the 
decree  of  the  court.  You  find  a  good  many  other  places 
in  the  Bible  where  this  same  phraseology  occurs  and 

39 


40 


DOES  RELIGION  PAY? 


where  you  cannot  use  a  question-mark  after  it  either. 
The  trouble  about  fixing  the  Scripture  to  suit  your  notion 
is  you  get  one  fixed,  but  somewhere  else  you  will  strike  a 
snag.  The  best  way  to  get  along  with  the  Bible  is  to  let 
God  say  what  he  wants  to  say  and  mean  what  he  wants 
to  mean. 

Others  tell  us  Jesus  did  make  this  man  a  promise, 
but  that  he  simply  meant  to  say,  “  Today  shalt  thou 
be  with  me  in  the  grave.”  Now  that  is  very  unlike 
Jesus.  There  are  cases  where  Jesus  refused  to  answer 
people  altogether,  but  in  every  case  it  was  where  they 
were  trying  to  entrap  him.  In  every  case  where  they 
came  for  help,  Jesus  always  answered.  Jesus  certainly 
would  not  have  told  this  thief  he  would  soon  be  with  him 
in  the  grave,  because  the  man  himself  knew  his  body 
would  soon  be  put  in  the  grave.  Then,  if  Jesus  had 
wanted  to  say  to  this  man,  “  You  will  soon  be  dead  and 
in  the  grave,”  why  did  he  not  say  so?  Jesus  knew  how 
to  use  language.  There  was  a  word  which  meant  grave ; 
why  did  he  not  use  it?  Then  there  are  those  who  say, 
“  Yes,  Jesus  made  him  a  promise,  but  then  Jesus  was  here 
in  person  and  could  save  any  way  he  wanted  to,  but  when 
Jesus  left  this  earth  he  left  a  plan  of  salvation  by  which 
people  must  be  saved.”  This  simply  means  that  this  man 
was  saved  by  a  different  plan  of  salvation  from  others. 
If  God  has  ever  changed  or  exchanged  his  plan  of  salva¬ 
tion,  it  was  either  for  a  better  or  for  a  worse  plan.  If  it 
was  for  a  better,  then  the  first  plan  was  imperfect ;  if  for 
a  worse,  then  the  latter  is  imperfect.  But  God  has  never 
changed  his  plan  of  salvation.  He  saves  men  today  just 
as  he  saved  Father  Abraham — by  faith.  Those  who  were 
saved  before  Christ  came,  looked  forward  to  his  coming 
just  as  we  look  back  to  the  Lamb  that  was  slain.  Christ 
made  that  man  a  promise  that  day.  What  was  it?  It 


CHRIST’S  PROMISE 


41 


all  depends  upon  the  meaning  of  the  word  “  paradise.” 
This  word  paradise  occurs  only  three  times  in  the  New 
Testament,  in  Luke  23  : 43,  in  Second  Corinthians  12  : 4, 
and  in  Revelation  2  :  7,  which  we  shall  notice  later. 

I  shall  discuss  two  general  points  tonight.  First,  what 
is  paradise,  and  secondly,  the  terms  on  which  this  man 
entered  into  paradise. 

I.  What  is  Paradise? 

Let  the  Bible  answer.  One  of  the  best  ways  to  inter¬ 
pret  the  Scriptures,  when  you  have  no  commentaries  to 
help  you,  is  to  take  the  Bible  and  let  it  interpret  itself. 
See  how  the  apostles  used  the  same  word  somewhere  else. 
There  is  nothing  in  the  context  of  this  text  to  indicate  the 
meaning  of  the  word  paradise .  Suppose  we  turn  over 
to  Second  Corinthians  12  :  4.  Paul  was  telling  about 
an  experience.  He  says :  “  I  knew  a  man  in  Christ  above 
fourteen  years  ago,  (whether  in  the  body  I  cannot  tell; 
or  whether  out  of  the  body,  I  cannot  tell;  God  knoweth;) 
such  an  one  caught  up  to  the  third  heaven.  And  I  knew 
such  a  man,  (whether  in  the  body  or  out  of  the  body,  I 
cannot  tell.  God  knoweth  :)  How  that  he  was  caught  up  into 
paradise,  and  heard  unspeakable  words,  which  it  is  not 
lawful  for  a  man  to  utter.”  Paul  was  too  modest  to  say 
he  had  this  experience,  but  he  was  the  one  caught  up  into 
the  third  heaven,  into  paradise ;  whether  in  the  body  or 
out  of  the  body  he  could  not  tell.  Paul  repeats  this  state¬ 
ment,  and  the  next  time  he  uses  the  word  “  paradise  ” 
instead  of  the  “  third  heaven.”  Then  “  paradise  ”  and 
the  “  third  heaven  ”  are  one  and  the  same.  Paul  says  he 
was  caught  up  into  the  third  heaven,  into  paradise,  which 
shows  that  they  were  the  same.  Now,  if  we  can  find  out 
what  the  third  heaven  is,  we  can  find  out  what  paradise 
is,  for  they  are  the  same.  The  Jews  spoke  of  three 


42 


DOES  RELIGION  PAY? 


heavens.  The  first  is  the  space  above  us  where  the  birds 
fly.  Beyond  this  is  the  “  second  heaven  ”  where  the  stars 
are,  and  beyond  the  place  of  the  planets  is  the  “  third 
heaven,”  where  God  is  and  where  God’s  throne  is.  Paul 
meant  by  the  “  third  heaven  ”  what  the  Jews  usually  meant 
by  that  expression.  So  Paul  meant  by  the  “  third 
heaven  ”  the  place  where  God  is  and  where  God’s  throne 
is,  and  God’s  throne  is  in  heaven. 

Let  us  see,  What  did  John  mean  by  paradise?  “He 
that  hath  an  ear,  let  him  hear  what  the  Spirit  saith  unto 
the  churches ;  to  him  that  overcometh  will  I  give  to  eat 
of  the  tree  of  life,  which  is  in  the  midst  of  the  paradise 
of  God”  (Rev.  2:7).  If  we  can  locate  the  tree  of 
life,  we  can  locate  paradise.  “  And  he  shewed  me  a  pure 
river  of  water  of  life,  clear  as  crystal,  proceeding  out  of 
the  throne  of  God  and  of  the  Lamb.  In  the  midst  of  the 
street  of  it,  and  on  either  side  of  the  river,  was  there  the 
tree  of  life”  (Rev.  22  :  1,  2).  Then  the  paradise  of 
God  is  somewhere  around  this  tree  of  life,  for  it  is  in 
the  midst  of  paradise.  This  tree  of  life  is  growing  in 
the  midst  of  the  paradise  of  God,  then  the  paradise  of 
God  is  somewhere  around  the  River  of  Life,  around  the 
throne  of  God;  and  God’s  throne  is  in  heaven.  Notice 
here  that  John  says,  “To  him  that  overcometh  will  I  give 
to  eat  of  the  tree  of  life,  which  is  in  the  midst  of  the 
paradise  of  God.”  Who  are  they  that  overcome?  Those 
who  have  washed  their  robes  and  made  them  white  in  the 
blood  of  the  Lamb.  Then  the  blood-washed  throngs  are 
in  the  paradise  of  God.  If  I  get  to  where  God  is  and 
where  the  Lamb  is,  and  where  the  tree  of  life  is,  and 
where  the  blood-washed  throngs  are  singing  hallelujahs 
to  the  Lamb,  that  will  be  heaven  enough  for  me.  Again, 
if  we  can  find  out  where  Jesus  went  that  day,  we  can 
find  out  where  the  thief  went,  for  Jesus  said,  “  Today 


CHRIST’S  PROMISE 


43 


shalt  thou  be  with  me  in  paradise.”  Just  after  Jesus 
made  this  promise  to  the  thief,  he  cried  with  a  loud  voice 
and  said.  “  Father,  into  thy  hands  I  commend  my  spirit.” 
If  he  went  to  the  Father  that  day,  the  thief  went  too, 
because  Jesus  said,  “  Today  shalt  thou  be  with  me.”  But 
somebody  might  say,  “  Don’t  you  remember  the  Scripture 
where  Peter  says  Jesus  went  into  hell  and  preached  to 
the  spirits  in  prison  between  the  death  and  the  resurrec¬ 
tion  of  the  body?”  No,  I  do  not  remember  any  such 
Scripture.  That  Scripture  does  not  teach  that  Jesus  went 
into  hell  and  preached  to  those  there.  Peter  was  talking 
about  the  crucifixion.  (1  Peter  3  :  18-20.)  He  says 
Christ  was  put  to  death  in  the  flesh,  but  quickened  in 
the  Spirit;  in  which  (Spirit)  he  went  and  preached  unto 
the  spirits  (NOW)  in  prison.  The  Spirit  which  was 
liberated  when  Jesus  was  put  to  death  was  the  same  Spirit 
which  went  in  the  days  of  Noah  and  preached  through 
Noah  to  the  spirits  who  are  now  in  prison;  who  were 
disobedient  in  the  long-suffering  of  God  while  the  ark  was 
being  prepared.  The  Bible  says,  “  After  death,  the  judg¬ 
ment,”  not  “After  death,  another  probation.”  If  Jesus 
went  to  the  Father  that  day,  the  thief  went  to  the  Father 
that  day.  But  he  said  to  Marv,  “Touch  me  not,  for  I 
have  not  yet  ascended  to  the  Father.”  That  was  the 
body  they  wanted  to  touch.  The  body  had  not  ascended, 
but  the  Spirit  went  to  the  Father.  There  is  no  Scripture 
that  justifies  the  statement  that  Jesus  Christ  went  into 
hell  between  the  death  and  the  resurrection  of  the  body 
and  preached  to  those  in  hell.  He  went  to  the  Father 
that  day  in  spirit  (not  his  body)  ;  his  body  went  to  the 
grave,  and  the  body  of  this  thief  went  to  the  grave,  I 
suppose.  What  Jesus  promised  that  man  was  that  he 
should  be  with  him  where  God  is,  where  God’s  throne  is, 
and  where  the  River  of  Life  is  flowing,  and  where  the 


44 


DOES  RELIGION  PAY? 


blood-washed  throngs  are  singing  the  songs  of  redemp¬ 
tion. 

II.  The  Terms  on  Which  This  Man  Entered  Into 

Paradise 

What  were  the  terms  upon  which  this  man  entered  into 
paradise  ?  There  were  two  thieves,  one  on  His  right  and 
one  on  his  left.  I  suppose  one  was  just  as  wicked  as 
the  other,  for  both  railed  on  Christ.  But  only  one  of 
them  was  saved,  so  far  as  the  record  shows.  What  were 
the  terms  on  which  this  man  was  saved?  I  will 
notice  first  what  were  not  the  terms.  I  shall  treat  the 
subject  by  the  process  of  elimination.  If  you  know  a 
thing  is  one  of  three  things,  and  you  prove  that  it  is  not 
the  first,  and  not  the  second,  then  it  is  bound  to  be  the 
third.  Sometimes  elimination  is  the  only  way  you  can 
prove  what  a  thing  is.  And  sometimes,  when  you  cannot 
prove  what  a  thing  is  by  elimination,  you  can  at  least 
clear  away  a  good  deal  of  rubbish  so  that  you  can  prove 
what  it  is.  What  were  the  terms  on  which  this  man  was 
saved?  It  was  not  church-membership.  You  ask  some 
people,  “Are  you  saved?”  and  they  will  say,  “  I  am  a 
member  of  the  church.”  “But  are  you  a  Christian?” 
“  I  have  been  a  member  of  the  church  for  ten  years,”  is 
the  reply.  They  seem  to  think  because  they  are  members 
of  a  church,  and  their  names  on  the  roll,  they  are  saved. 
Suppose  the  church  record  should  get  burned.  Then, 
suppose  some  of  you  Baptists  should  let  the  rats  eat  your 
church  letters  up,  what  about  it?  I  fear  at  the  judgment- 
bar  of  God  there  will  be  many  people  turned  away  who 
had  their  names  on  church-rolls  here  on  earth.  You  had 
better  examine  the  grounds  of  your  hope  if  your  only 
evidence  of  salvation  is  church-membership.  This  man 
had  never  had  an  opportunity  to  become  a  church-mem- 


CHRIST’S  PROMISE 


45 


ber  perhaps,  and  if  he  had  ever  been  a  church-member, 
he  had  forfeited  all  rights  to  church-membership  by  an 
ungodly  life. 

It  was  not  baptism.  We  believe  every  child  of  God 
ought  to  be  baptized.  I  do  not  believe  any  well-informed 
Christian  will  refuse  to  be  baptized,  and  for  a  man  to 
know  it  is  his  duty  to  be  baptized  and  then  refuse  to  be, 
would  show  at  once  that  he  was  not  a  proper  subject  for 
baptism.  This  thief  had  no  opportunity  to  be  baptized; 
and  if  he  had  been  baptized,  baptism  does  not  save.  If 
baptism  fails  to  save  in  one  case,  it  will  fail  in  every  case. 
Baptism  failed  to  save  Simon  Magus,  for  the  apostle  said, 
“  Thy  gold  perish  with  thee.”  He  was  in  the  gall  of 
bitterness  and  in  the  bond  of  iniquity,  and  yet  he  had 
been  baptized.  Every  one  who  believes  on  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  as  his  personal  Saviour  and  confesses  him  as  his 
Lord,  should  be  baptized.  We  are  commanded  to  make 
disciples  and  baptize  them. 

It  was  not  the  observance  of  the  Mosaic  law  that  saved 
this  man.  He  admitted  that  he  was  a  highway  robber ; 
he  had  violated  the  law,  and  was  under  the  penalty  of  the 
law.  Whenever  a  man  violates  a  law  in  one  particular, 
the  whole  law  is  broken.  If  one  link  of  a  chain  is  broken, 
the  whole  chain  is  broken. 

It  was  not  morality  that  saved  this  man.  He  was  not 
moral.  And  then,  morality  is  no  better  for  salvation 
than  immorality,  because  every  one  has  committed  at 
least  one  sin.  and  condemnation  is  not  in  the  degree  or 
number  of  sins,  but  in  the  fact  of  sin.  All  have  sinned, 
and  therefore  all  are  dead  in  trespasses  and  in  sin  and 
condemnation  has  passed  upon  all. 

It  was  not  the  interposition  of  a  priest  that  saved  him. 
Xo  priest  came  between  the  Saviour  and  the  thief  to 
absolve  him  from  sin.  If  one  man  can  come  to  the  Lord 


46 


DOES  RELIGION  PAY? 


without  a  priest,  preacher,  or  pope,  then  every  man  can 
do  the  same  thing. 

If  it  was  not  church-membership,  nor  baptism,  nor  the 
observance  of  the  law,  nor  morality,  nor  the  interposition 
of  a  priest  that  saved  him,  then  what  was  it  ?  In  the  first 
place,  this  man  called  upon  the  name  of  the  Lord.  The 
Book  says,  “  Whosoever  shall  call  upon  the  name  of  the 
Lord  shall  be  saved.’ ’  This  man  did  call  upon  the  name 
of  the  Lord  and  therefore  was  saved.  This  man  repented 
of  his  sins.  How  do  we  know?  The  Book  says,  “Ex¬ 
cept  ye  repent,  ye  shall  all  likewise  perish.”  This  man 
did  not  perish,  therefore  he  repented.  He  could  not  do 
penance,  but  he  could  repent,  though  nailed  to  a  cross. 
This  man  believed  on  the  Lord.  How  do  we  know? 
Because  the  Book  says,  “  He  that  believeth  not  shall  be 
damned.”  He  was  not  damned,  therefore  he  believed  on 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  He  completed  the  act  of  faith 
while  on  the  cross  and  had  the  assurance  that  he  would 
be  with  Tesus  in  paradise.  This  is  one  case  of  death-bed 
repentance,  but  this  is  no  warrant  to  any  man  to  put  off 
his  salvation  to  a  dying  hour. 

Your  case  is  very  different  from  this  man’s.  This  was 
the  first  opportunity  he  had  ever  had.  Maybe  you  will 
not  die  as  he  did.  The  death  of  the  cross  is  a  slow 
process.  Death  may  come  like  a  flash  to  you.  You  may 
not  have  time  to  repent.  Then,  I  have  not  much  confi¬ 
dence  in  death-bed  repentance.  Usually  there  is  nothing 
in  it,  if  the  man  gets  well.  A  great  preacher  has  said 
that  only  two  cases  out  of  a  hundred  of  supposed  death¬ 
bed  repentances  ever  amounted  to  anything  where  they 
got  well.  I  have  never  known  of  a  single  case.  I  asked 
Dr.  J.  M.  Weaver  if  he  had  ever  known  of  a  man  who 
was  converted  on  what  he  thought  was  his  death-bed.  and 
got  well,  who  proved  to  be  genuinely  converted  ?  He  said, 


CHRIST’S  PROMISE 


47 


“  Yes,  just  one.”  While  pastor  in  Lexington,  Dr.  C.  M. 
Thompson  was  with  me  in  a  meeting.  One  night  Mrs. 
Nowlin  said  to  me  after  we  came  home  from  meeting: 
“  There  is  a  note  for  you  in  there.  A  man  is  dying  on 
High  Street  and  wants  you  to  come  at  once.”  I  said  to 
Doctor  Thompson,  “  You  go  to  bed,  and  I’ll  go  to  see  the 
dying  man.”  I  went  and  found  the  man  in  what  was 
supposed  to  be  the  last  stage  of  consumption.  The  doc¬ 
tors  told  him  he  could  not  live  many  hours.  He  said  to 
me,  “  I  want  to  join  the  church  before  I  die.”  I  said, 
“  Taking  you  into  the  church  cannot  save  you.”  I  said, 
“  Do  you  believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  with  all  your 
heart — do  you  love  him?”  He  said,  “Oh,  yes,  and  if 
God  would  just  give  me  a  chance,  I  would  gladly  obey 
him.”  I  read  him  the  Scriptures  and  told  him  if  he  was 
really  trusting  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  he  was  saved,  be¬ 
cause  he  said,  “  He  that  believeth  on  the  Son  hath  ever¬ 
lasting  life.”  I  said,  “  I  will  pray  for  you  that  you  may 
get  up  and  go  to  church  and  be  received  for  membership.” 
He  said.  “  I  cannot  live  to  do  that.”  I  was  impressed 
that  he  would  get  up,  and  I  prayed  God  that  he  would  let 
him  get  up.  He  said.  “  If  God  just  gives  me  the  strength 
I  will  be  glad  to  go  to  church  and  be  received.”  The  next 
morning  I  found  him  a  little  better,  and  Brother  Thomp¬ 
son,  who  was  with  me,  told  him  just  what  I  had  told  him. 
We  asked  God  to  raise  him  up  so  that  he  could  prove  that 
he  meant  what  he  said.  He  got  up  and  got  well.  But 
he  did  not  come  to  the  church  at  all.  I  stayed  there  a 
number  of  years  after  this  and  used  to  see  that  man  on 
the  streets,  but  he  never  came  to  the  church.  Oh,  he  was 
penitent  that  night,  when  he  thought  he  would  never  see 
another  day.  He  was  simply  hell-scared,  that  was  all. 

Those  who  have  opportunities  in  this  life  and  refuse 
to  accept  them,  I  do  not  believe  are  in  shape  to  be  saved 


48 


DOES  RELIGION  PAY? 


when  they  are  dying.  There  may  be  a  few,  but  a  very 
few,  who  are  thus  saved.  Salvation  is  offered  to  every 
man  without  money  and  without  price.  “  Him  that  com- 
eth  unto  me  I  will  in  nowise  cast  out.”  If  you  love  Jesus, 
prove  it  by  obeying  him.  Jesus  says,  “  He  that  keepeth 
not  my  words,  loveth  me  not.”  I  trust  that  there  are 
some  here  who  have  the  courage  to  do  their  duty  this 
night. 


V 


AN  UNANSWERED  QUESTION  IN  PROFIT 

AND  LOSS 

“  What  shall  it  profit  a  man  though  he  should  gain  the  whole 
world,  and  lose  his  own  soul?  or  what  shall  a  man  give  in  ex¬ 
change  for  his  soul?’’ — Matthew  16  :  26. 

Jesus  presents  in  this  text  an  unanswerable  argument 
for  the  worth  of  the  immortal  part  of  man.  This  question 
was  asked  nearly  two  thousand  years  ago,  and  was  asked 
by  one  who  could  weigh  with  accuracy  the  soul  of  man. 
Many  things  have  been  weighed  in  the  balances  over 
against  the  soul — money,  social  position,  pleasure,  politi¬ 
cal  power,  etc.  Money  is  entitled  to  the  first  place,  per¬ 
haps,  because  it  tempts  more  people  and  is  often  used  to 
procure  the  others.  People  often  buy  political  power, 
earthly  pleasures,  and  positions  of  honor,  but  they  can¬ 
not  buy  real  happiness ;  they  cannot  buy  salvation ;  they 
cannot  buy  heaven.  The  American  people  are  a  great 
people  for  profit  and  loss,  especially  for  profit.  This  is 
all  right  to  a  certain  extent.  We  should  not  go  into  a 
thing  without  considering  its  worth  and  its  cost.  When 
certain  people  wanted  to  follow  Jesus  he  said  to  them, 
“  You  had  better  count  the  cost,”  reminding  them  that  he 
was  poorer  than  the  birds  of  the  air,  or  the  foxes  of  the 
hills.  These  had  places  of  habitation,  but  he  had  not 
where  to  lay  his  head. 

While  we  are  considering  the  question  of  profit  and 
loss  we  should  consider  our  greatest  possible  gain  and  our 
greatest  possible  loss.  The  greatest  possible  gain  to  any 

49 


50 


DOES  RELIGION  PAY? 


man  is  the  gain  of  eternal  life,  and  the  greatest  possible 
loss  is  the  loss  of  one’s  soul.  Jesus  is  not  saying  that 
it  is  possible  for  any  one  man  to  gain  the  whole  world, 
but  is  reasoning  from  the  premise,  “  If  a  man  should  gain 
the  whole  world  and  lose  his  own  soul,”  he  has  lost  im¬ 
measurably  and  irreparably.  This  statement  clearly 
implies 


I.  Every  Man  Has  a  Soul 

Jesus’  question  proves  this.  Jesus  would  not  have 
been  guilty  of  discussing  the  possibility  of  a  man 
losing  his  soul  if  men  had  no  souls.  In  this  case  the 
disciples,  no  doubt,  would  have  replied :  “  Why,  Mas¬ 
ter,  what  are  you  talking  about?  Don’t  you  know  men 
have  no  souls?”  Jesus  did  not  stop  to  argue  the  fact 
that  men  have  souls ;  it  was  not  necessary.  So  this 
very  question  proves  that  men  have  souls.  The  ques¬ 
tion  was  based  upon  that  fact.  Not  only  do  the  words 
of  Jesus  prove  that  men  have  souls,  but  our  intuitions 
prove  the  same.  There  is  a  universal  belief  in  man 
that  there  is  something  in  him  that  does  not  die  with 
the  body.  This  is  not  only  true  of  people  who  have 
the  Bible,  but  it  is  true  of  people  who  are  in  heathen 
darkness.  The  claim  is  made  that  no  infidel,  no 
atheist,  has  ever  been  found  among  heathen  people. 
They  all  believe  that  they  have  a  principle,  or  some¬ 
thing,  in  them  that  does  not  die  with  the  body.  That 
is  the  reason  why  the  Indian  had  his  dog  and  his  pony, 
his  bow  and  arrow,  buried  with  him.  He  wanted  to 
have  these  with  him  in  the  Happy  Hunting-ground  on 
the  other  side.  Our  experiences  prove  the  same  thing. 
There  is  not  one  here  who  has  not  had  at  some  time  a 
warfare  going  on  in  his  being.  You  had  the  oppor¬ 
tunity  to  do  a  thing,  had  the  desire,  or  passion  to  do  it, 


AN  UNANSWERED  QUESTION 


51 


and  yet  did  not  do  it.  Why?  Because  there  was 
something  that  said  it  is  not  right.  You  cannot  have 
an  antagonism  without  at  least  two  antagonistic  ele¬ 
ments.  You  might  pile  up  soda  until  it  is  mountain 
high,  and  there  would  be  no  disturbance ;  and  you 
might  have  a  great  lake  of  acid  alone  and  it  would 
create  no  disturbance  ;  but  when  they  come  together  a 
disturbance  is  created,  because  they  are  antagonistic. 
One  nature  could  not  antagonize  itself.  So  if  man 
has  a  warfare  going  on  in  him,  he  must  have  two 
antagonistic  natures. 

I  was  holding  a  meeting  in  a  certain  village  where 
the  pastor  told  me  of  a  man  in  the  community  who 
was  an  infidel,  and  so  we  went  to  see  him  out  in  the 
field.  I  began  to  talk  with  him.  The  old  man  gave 
me  to  understand  at  once  that  he  did  not  believe  he 
had  any  soul.  I  said  to  him.  “  Have  you  ever  at  any 
time  in  your  life  had  a  warfare  going  on  in  your 
being?”  He  said,  “What  does  that  mean  anyhow?” 
He  had  had  that  experience.  I  said :  “  That  means 
you  have  two  natures,  the  lower  and  the  higher  nature. 
The  lower  nature  has  appetites  and  passions,  and  some 
of  them  not  legitimate,  and  the  higher  nature  is  that 
which  says,  ‘  That  is  wrong.’  ”  The  old  man  began 
to  ask  questions  at  once  about  these  experiences.  Man 
is  the  only  animal  living  that  has  a  passion  to  do  a 
certain  thing,  and  has  the  opportunity  to  do  it,  and  yet 
does  not  do  it.  A  hog  has  an  appetite  for  buttermilk, 
and  when  he  has  the  opportunity  he  dives  into  it.  He 
does  not  ask  whose  buttermilk  it  is  or  whether  it  is 
right  or  wrong,  he  dives  in.  Every  man  has  had  at 
times  a  desire,  or  passion,  to  do  a  certain  thing,  but 
has  not  done  it  because  there  was  another  nature  in 
him  which  said,  “  It  is  not  right.”  Some  years  ago 


52 


DOES  RELIGION  PAY? 


while  Doctor  Henson  was  pastor  of  the  First  Church 
in  Chicago,  he  was  making  a  fight  for  prohibition. 
There  was  a  young  editor  of  a  daily  paper  in  Chicago 
who  made  an  attack  on  Doctor  Henson's  lecture.  He 
said :  “I  do  not  need  prohibition  to  keep  me  from 
drinking.  I  am  a  man.  I’ll  drink  when  I  want  to, 
and  will  let  it  alone  when  I  don’t  want  it."  Doctor 
Henson  replied :  “  That  is  no  man  at  all,  to  drink  when 
you  want  it  and  let  it  alone  when  you  don’t  want  it. 
An  ox  will  drink  when  he  wants  to,  and  he  would  be 
a  fool  to  drink  when  he  didn’t  want  to.  It  takes  a 
man  to  want  to  and  not  do  it.”  The  experience  of 
every  man  proves  that  he  has  in  him  two  natures. 
Did  you  ever  think  about  it?  To  doubt  that  you  have  a 
soul  is  proof  that  you  have  it,  since  to  doubt  whether  or 
not  one  has  a  soul  is  possible  only  of  a  being  that  has  a 
soul.  A  being  that  has  no  soul  cannot  reason  on  so 
sublime  a  subject.  If  a  hog  could  sit  down  and  reason 
on  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  and  even  doubt  whether 
or  not  it  has  a  soul,  I’d  believe  it  had  a  soul.  Then  to 
doubt  that  you  have  a  soul  is  proof  that  you  have  it.  The 
soul  really  is  the  man.  It  is  more  accurate  to  say  the 
man  has  a  body,  since  the  soul  is  really  the  man. 

II.  Every  Man  May  Lose  His  Soul 

To  be  lost  is  one  of  the  inherent  possibilities  of  the 
soul.  If  it  had  not  been  possible  for  a  man  to  lose  his 
soul,  the  disciples  no  doubt  would  have  said,  “  What  do 
you  mean,  Master,  by  talking  about  the  possibility  of  an 
impossibility  ?  ”  But  to  be  lost  is  one  of  the  inherent  possi¬ 
bilities  of  the  soul.  The  words  of  Jesus  prove  this.  Our 
own  experiences  prove  this.  Perhaps  every  normal  man 
has  realized  at  some  time  that  he  was  lost.  Paul  in  his 
address  on  Mars  Hill  tells  us  that  these  people  were 


AN  UNANSWERED  QUESTION 


53 


“  feeling  after  God  ”  in  the  darkness.  They  realized  that 
they  were  alienated  from  God.  The  heathen  realize  that 
they  are  lost ;  their  sacrifices,  their  offerings  are  strong 
arguments  that  they  are  feeling  their  way  toward  God. 
They  are  alienated  from  God;  but  are  trying  to  find  their 
way  back  to  him.  Now  wherever  you  find  a  universal 
belief  in  a  thing,  or  a  universal  demand  for  a  thing,  that 
thing  must  exist.  Nature  has  no  half  hinges.  The  uni¬ 
versal  demand  has  its  complement  somewhere.  The  eye 
is  an  argument  in  favor  of  light.  The  eye  is  made  to 
receive  light  and  is  proof  of  the  existence  of  light  some¬ 
where.  If  you  had  never  heard  a  sound,  but  by  examin¬ 
ing  an  ear  you  found  that  it  was  made  to  receive  sound, 
you  would  say,  “  That  is  an  argument  in  favor  of  sound.” 
The  birds  in  their  wild  state  in  the  northern  clime  have 
an  instinct  that  somewhere  in  the  South  there  is  a  warmer 
place.  They  rise  up  and  go  South  and  find  the  comple¬ 
ment  to  that  instinct.  In  the  springtime  they  go  North 
by  instinct ;  they  find  an  answer  to  that  instinct  in  them. 
There  is  a  universal  belief  in  man  that  there  is  something 
in  him  that  does  not  die  with  the  body;  then  such  a  belief 
has  its  complement  in  fact.  No  tribe  has  ever  been  found 
so  low  that  they  did  not  believe  there  was  something  in 
them  that  did  not  die  with  the  body.  The  universal  de¬ 
mand  for  life  hereafter  is  in  favor  of  the  immortality  of 
the  soul.  I  can  prove  to  the  atheistic  evolutionist  from 
his  own  premise  that  there  is  an  immortal  soul  in  man. 

According  to  the  Darwinian  theory,  man  has  come  up 
from  the  lowest  form  of  life  to  the  manlike  ape,  and  then 
this  manlike  ape  desired  hands,  and  so  he  finally  began 
to  walk  on  two  feet,  and  the  other  two  were  used  for 
hands,  so  the  very  desire  and  need  for  hands  produced 
them.  The  evolutionist  tells  us  that  the  glowworm  did 
not  have  eyes  at  first  but  by  and  by  the  need  for  eyes 

E 


54 


DOES  RELIGION  PAY? 


developed  them ;  those  little  spots  on  the  side  developed 
into  eyes.  We  are  told  that  man  had  no  use  for  a  tail, 
and  so  the  monkey  finally  shed  his  tail  and  thus  became 
a  man.  However,  the  absence  of  a  tail  does  not  always 
make  a  man. 

I  can  take  the  evolutionist’s  theory  and  make  him 
admit,  if  his  mind  is  hooked  up  logically,  that  there  must 
be  souls  and  that  they  must  live  forever.  The  theory  of 
natural  selection  and  the  universal  belief  in  immortality 
and  the  desire  to  live  forever,  if  men  had  not  had  souls, 
would  have  produced  them,  if  the  evolutionist  is  correct. 
I  do  not  accept  his  premise,  of  course. 

But  we  have  the  word  of  Jesus  to  the  effect  that  men 
have  souls  and  that  men’s  souls  may  be  lost.  Our  experi¬ 
ences  tell  us  that  we  are  lost  and  our  knowledge  of 
heathen  nations  proves  the  same  fact. 

III.  Every  Lost  Soul  is  of  the  Sinner’s  Own  Losing 

You  notice  that  Jesus  says,  “  What  shall  it  profit  a  man 
if  he  gain  the  whole  world  and  lose  his  own  soul?  ”  He 
does  not  say,  “If  God  damns  his  soul.”  Men  damn  their 
own  souls  if  they  are  damned.  Losing  his  soul  is  man’s 
own  act,  and  not  the  act  of  God.  Our  experiences  prove 
this.  We  know  we  are  responsible  for  it  if  we  are  lost. 
Lost  men  in  perdition  are  going  to  say :  “  We  are  respon¬ 
sible  and  God  is  just  and  holy.  God  is  not  responsible 
for  our  being  lost.  God  has  not  done  it,  we  have  done  it 
ourselves.”  The  confessions  of  those  in  hell  prove  that 
every  lost  soul  is  of  the  sinner’s  own  losing.  That  rich 
man  did  not  bring  any  railing  accusation  against  God  for 
his  being  in  hell.  He  knew  he  had  done  it  himself,  and 
so  wanted  to  send  back  word  to  his  brothers  not  to  come 
there,  as  they  would  be  responsible  and  not  God.  He  did 
not  say,  “  Send  Lazarus  to  appeal  to  God,”  but  he  said, 


AN  UNANSWERED  QUESTION  55 

“  Send  him  to  tell  my  brothers  not  to  come  to  this  place 
of  torment.”  It  is  the  height  of  folly  for  man  to  com¬ 
plain  at  God  because  men  are  lost  when  God  has  done 
everything  he  could  justly  do  to  keep  men  from  going 
to  hell.  Men  can  bring  no  just  charge  against  God  for 
their  being  in  hell.  They  will  admit  that  God’s  dealings 
are  just  and  that  they  deserve  the  treatment  meted  out  to 
them.  Yea,  they  will  say,  “  I  did  it  myself,  I  would  have 
it  so.” 

IV.  One  Soul  is  Worth  More  Than  the  Whole  World 

“  What  shall  a  man  give  in  exchange  for  his  soul?  ” 
The  argument  is  that  if  one  man  had  the  whole  world  it 
would  not  be  worth  as  much  as  his  soul,  and  that  he 
would  gladly  exchange  the  world  for  his  soul,  if  he  could 
only  make  the  exchange.  If  one  man  had  all  of  Logan 
County  he  would  be  a  rich  man.  But  Jesus  did  not  stop 
with  Logan  County,  nor  with  Kentucky,  nor  the  United 
States,  but  the  whole  world.  Now  if  one  man  had  the 
whole  world  he  would  gladly  give  it  in  exchange  for  his 
soul,  especially  on  the  last  day  of  his  life.  Jesus  means 
to  sav  that  the  soul  is  worth  more  than  the  whole  world. 

y 

First,  because  it  cost  more  than  the  whole  world.  Did 
you  ever  think  of  the  fact  that  the  redemption  of  a  soul 
cost  more  than  the  whole  world?  It  cost  God  the  death 
of  his  Son  to  save  a  soul.  The  price  of  man’s  redemption 
is  the  crimson  tide  which  flowed  from  his  side  on  Cal¬ 
vary’s  rugged  brow.  Blood  redemption.  That’s  the 
price. 

Many  years  ago  when  the  great  bridge  which  spans  the 
Mississippi  was  being  built,  I  saw  it,  and  a  man  was  telling 
me  how  much  it  had  cost,  and  how  many  people  had  lost 
their  lives  in  the  construction  of  it,  and  how  we  could 
only  estimate  the  worth  of  the  bridge  by  the  cost  of  it. 


56 


DOES  RELIGION  PAY? 


That  is  the  way  we  usually  estimate  values.  But  the 
value  of  a  soul  is  really  staggering  when  we  come  to  think 
of  it  in  the  light  of  its  cost.  The  death  of  his  Son  on  the 
cross  was  the  price  of  man’s  redemption.  Sometimes 
people  have  trouble  in  trying  to  grasp  the  fact  that  Jesus 
paid  the  price  for  an  indefinite  number  of  individuals. 
You  remember  some  years  ago  when  we  had  so  much  said 
about  “16  to  1  ”?  What  did  that  mean?  That  meant 
that  one  ounce  of  gold  was  equal  to  sixteen  ounces  of 
silver.  Because  the  gold  had  in  it  the  intrinsic  worth,  one 
ounce  of  gold  would  pay  for  sixteen  ounces  of  silver. 
Jesus  Christ  was  not  only  man  but  was  God.  He  was  an 
infinite  being  and  could  pay  the  price  of  an  indefinite 
number  of  finite  beings,  because  he  was  worth  an  infinite 
number  of  finite  beings.  One  God  could  suffer  as  much 
as  all  men.  I  think  you  can  grasp  that.  That  was  the 
price  paid  for  man's  redemption.  In  the  second  place, 
the  soul  will  last  longer  than  the  world.  It  is  valuable 
because  of  its  durability.  The  immortal  part  of  man  is 
worth  more  than  the  world  because  it  will  outlast  the 
world.  After  this  world  has  been  destroyed  with  a  fer¬ 
vent  heat,  and  the  sun  has  refused  to  shine  and  shut  his 
glories  in,  and  the  heavens  shall  have  cast  the  stars  down 
as  the  fig  tree  casts  its  untimely  figs  in  the  time  of  storm, 
yea,  after  the  wreck  and  decay  of  time,  the  soul  will  go 
marching  on.  The  world  is  not  worth  much  when  you 
come  to  die.  When  the  rich  come  to  die  they  are  just  as 
poor  as  anybody.  A  millionaire  is  just  as  poor  as  the 
poorest  pauper  in  the  community  when  breath  is  gone. 
Treasures  here  do  not  amount  to  anything  then.  We  are 
told  that  Queen  Elizabeth  said  when  she  came  to  die, 
“  Millions  of  money  for  an  inch  of  time.”  She  had  the 
money  but  could  not  buy  a  moment  of  time.  The  time 
was  up,  and  it  may  soon  be  up  with  you,  my  friend.  The 


AN  UNANSWERED  QUESTION 


57 


most  important  thing  in  this  life  is  to  prepare  for  the 
life  to  come.  This  is  only  a  dressing-room  where  we 
may  get  ready  for  eternity.  Why  should  we  not  take 
more  time  to  get  ready  for  the  next  world?  These  souls 
of  ours  are  worth  more  than  all  the  world  with  its  plea¬ 
sures  and  honors.  These  sink  into  insignificance  in  com¬ 
parison  with  the  soul  of  man.  The  time  to  decide  is  now, 
it  may  be  too  late  when  you  come  to  die.  I  beseech  you, 
my  friends,  to  be  reconciled  to  God,  and  do  it  now. 
How  are  you  going  to  spend  this  life  and  where  are  you 
going  to  spend  eternity? 


VI 


DOES  RELIGION  PAY? 

“  For  their  rock  is  not  as  our  Rock,  even  our  enemies  them¬ 
selves  being  judges.” — Deuteronomy  32  :  31. 

If  religion  does  not  pay  no  one  should  invest  in  it.  If 
it  does  pay,  then  every  one  should  invest  in  it.  The 
American  people  are  great  for  profit  and  loss,  and  oh,  if 
they  would  only  consider  their  greatest  possible  profit 
and  their  greatest  possible  loss.  It  is  sometimes  wise  to 
answer  a  fool  according  to  his  folly;  and  I  do  this  at 
times.  If  a  man  tells  me  he  is  an  agnostic,  and  I  find 
that  he  is  a  blatant  blatherskite,  wanting  an  argument,  I 
agree  with  him  at  once.  I  tell  him  the  preponderance  of 
evidence  is  on  his  side  of  the  question  and  that  I  am  not 
disposed  to  dispute  his  claim ;  but  if  he  turns  to  me  and 
says  that  I  know  nothing,  I  tell  him  that  is  a  different 
proposition  altogether.  If  you  know  what  I  don’t  know, 
you  know  a  good  deal,  for  what  I  don’t  know  would  fur¬ 
nish  a  fine  field  for  research.  A  man  who  affirms  that  he 
knows  nothing  affirms  that  he  knows  something ;  he 
affirms  that  he  knows  that  he  knows  nothing,  and 
that  is  more  than  some  people  know.  If  a  man  comes  to 
me  and  tells  me  that  he  is  an  evolutionist  and  that  his 
great-grandfather  was  a  monkey,  I  do  not  dispute  with 
him  about  it,  because  in  the  first  place  a  man  is  supposed 
to  know  more  about  his  ancestry  than  other  people  are 
supposed  to  know,  and  because,  in  the  second  place,  we 
judge  of  a  man’s  ancestry  largely  by  the  peculiarities  of 
58 


DOES  RELIGION  PAY? 


59 


the  offspring,  and  I  must  confess  that  you  have  many 
striking  resemblances  of  your  great-grandfather.  If  he 
says  that  my  great-grandfather  was  a  monkey  I  tell  him 
that  is  another  proposition.  My  great-grandfather  was 
a  Baptist  minister  in  Virginia  more  than  a  hundred  years 
ago.  My  grandfather  was  a  Baptist  minister  in  Ten¬ 
nessee  more  than  fifty  years  ago.  I  can  trace  my  ancestry 
back  to  the  Emerald  Isle,  and  I  find  no  monkeys  along 
the  line.  In  fact,  I  did  not  come  by  the  monkey  line.  I 
started  in  the  Garden  of  Eden,  and  not  in  a  zoological 
garden.  If  a  man  tells  me  he  is  an  atheist  and  that  there 
is  no  God,  I  usually  puncture  his  balloon  at  once  by  ask¬ 
ing  him  a  few  questions.  I  ask :  “  How  do  you  know 
there  is  no  God?  Do  you  know  everything  that  exists 
in  all  space  everywhere?  ”  He  usually  says,  “  No.”  As 
long  as  you  admit  that  you  do  not  know  everything  that 
exists  everywhere,  you  cannot  know  that  there  is  no  God, 
for  the  very  thing  you  do  not  know  may  be  God,  and 
God  may  be  in  that  place  of  which  you  do  not  know.  No 
man  that  does  not  know  everything  that  exists  every¬ 
where  can  know  that  there  is  no  God.  If  a  man  tells  me 
that  the  Bible  is  full  of  mistakes  I  have  him  point  out  one 
of  the  mistakes ;  for  it  proves  to  be  his  mistake  and  not 
Moses’.  Ingersoll  used  to  lecture  on  “  The  Mistakes  of 
Moses,”  at  one  dollar  per  head.  I  never  cared  to  pay 
the  price,  but  I  would  give  fifty  dollars  to  hear  Moses 
on  the  mistakes  of  Bob.  I  imagine  it  would  be  worth  the 
price  if  Moses  would  only  condescend  to  notice  Bob. 
While  I  think  it  is  often  wise  to  answer  a  fool  accord¬ 
ing  to  his  folly,  I  will  go  as  far  as  anybody  to  show 
an  honest  skeptic  his  folly,  and  the  real  worth  of  the 
Christian  religion.  An  honest  skeptic  does  not  boast 
about  his  skepticism.  He  would  give  his  right  arm  for 
the  faith  he  once  had  when  he  prayed  at  his  mother’s 


60 


DOES  RELIGION  PAY? 


knee.  The  blatant  blatherskite  that  goes  around  bragging 
about  his  skepticism  is  usually  an  ignoramus  showing  that 
he  knows  very  little.  Now  if  there  is  one  here  tonight 
who  doubts  the  wisdom  of  accepting  and  practising  the 
principles  of  the  Christian  religion,  I  want  to  show  you 
that  religion  pays. 

I.  The  Testimony  of  the  World  is  in  Favor  of  the 
Worth  of  the  Christian  Religion 

I  mean  by  the  world  those  who  are  not  Christians.  Of 
course  all  Christians  would  testify  that  religion  pays.  I 
am  going  to  put  worldlians  on  the  witness-stand  to  show 
that  their  foundation  is  not  as  our  foundation,  they  being 
the  witnesses  in  the  case. 

We  are  told  that  the  great  National  Bank  of  England 
has  a  list  of  twenty  questions  to  be  answered  by  every 
applicant  for  a  position  in  that  bank,  and  that  the  first 
question  is,  “How  do  you  spend  your  Sabbaths?”  If 
the  answer  is  “  In  religious  worship,”  they  ask  the  next 
question,  but  if  the  applicant  does  not  attend  religious 
worship  on  the  Sabbath  Day,  they  do  not  ask  another 
question.  The  National  Bank  of  England  is  not  run  in 
the  interest  of  religion,  but  finance.  The  railroads  have 
discovered  that  it  pays  to  have  their  employees  under 
the  influence  of  the  Christian  religion.  The  Railroad 
Y.  M.  C.  A.  is  being  established  everywhere  over  the 
country.  I  used  to  preach  in  one  of  the  centers  on 
Friday  nights  and  Sunday  afternoons  in  Lexington, 
Kentucky.  They  did  not  have  their  services  at  the  same 
time  as  ours.  Brother  D.  D.  Taylor  was  the  Secretary 
of  the  Railroad  Y.  M.  C.  A.  in  Lexington.  The  Chesa¬ 
peake  and  Ohio  Railroad  had  a  Y.  M.  C.  A.  at  every 
division  point  from  Louisville  to  Old  Point  Comfort. 
You  might  ask,  “  Who  pays  you  your  salary,  Brother 


DOES  RELIGION  PAY? 


61 


Taylor?”  The  reply  is,  “The  railroad  company  pays 
my  salary  every  month.”  “  Why  do  they  pay  you  a 
salary  and  keep  you  here  ?  ”  “  Because  to  keep  this  place 

open  and  furnish  religious  books  and  papers  and  to  have 
somebody  instruct  the  men  in  religious  matters  pays 
the  railroad  in  dollars  and  cents  by  keeping  their  men 
from  the  saloons  and  gambling-dens.”  I  am  glad  the 
railroads  keep  their  men  away  from  the  saloons  and 
gambling-dens.  I  don’t  want  any  drunken  conductor  or 
engineer  pulling  the  train  I  am  riding  on.  In  a  railroad 
Y.  M.  C.  A.  meeting  some  time  ago  the  president  told 
how  they  spent  thousands  of  dollars  every  year  for 
Y.  M.  C.  A.  work,  but  he  said,  “  Gentlemen,  we  could 
spend  ten  times  that  much  and  still  make  money  by  it.” 
Xow  you  wonder  how.  Whenever  a  drunken  conductor 
misreads  his  orders  and  has  a  collision,  kills  a  few  people 
and  destroys  two  trains,  it  costs  an  enormous  sum.  That 
wreck  at  Shepherdsville,  Kentucky,  some  time  ago  in 
which  fifty  people  were  killed,  cost  the  Louisville  and 
Nashville  up  into  the  millions.  That  means  something. 
But  by  having  men  who  are  under  the  influence  of  the 
Christian  religion,  sober  and  steady,  they  have  fewer 
accidents,  and  this  reduces  the  cost  of  wreckage. 

Some  years  ago  I  had  a  brother  pastor  with  me  in  a 
meeting  in  Lexington,  Kentucky,  and  while  there  he  said 
while  he  was  at  Newcastle,  Kentucky,  in  a  meeting,  he 
stopped  in  the  home  of  an  infidel  lawyer  whose  wife  was 
a  good  Baptist.  He  said  this  lawyer  treated  him  with  all 
courtesy  in  the  home,  but  one  day  while  at  the  table  the 
lawyer  said:  “You  ought  to  have  been  with  us,  doctor, 
a  while  back  when  we  were  taking  an  outing  on  a  fishing 
and  hunting  trip.  We  told  the  conductor  where  we 
wanted  to  get  off  up  in  the  mountains,  so  he  stopped  his 
train  saying,  ‘  This  is  the  place  where  you  gentlemen 


62 


DOES  RELIGION  PAY? 


want  to  get  off.’  We  had  too  much  luggage  and  money, 
but  we  had  to  take  care  of  it.  It  was  about  night  and 
the  question  was,  ‘  Where  will  we  spend  the  night?  ’  We 
went  up  to  a  cabin  and  hollered,  ‘  Hello,’  country  fashion. 
An  old  man  came  out,  and  we  told  what  we  wanted, 
but  he  said,  ‘  Gentlemen,  we  are  not  fixed  to  take  care 
of  city  folks.’  We  said,  ‘  That  is  all  right,  no  matter 
how  you  are  fixed,  we  want  to  stay  all  night  with  you.’ 
He  said,  ‘  I  never  turned  a  man  from  my  door,  and  I 
am  getting  too  old  to  begin  now,  so  if  you  want  to  stay, 
come  in.’  ”  Those  mountaineers  may  be  ignorant,  but 
they  are  big-hearted  and  generous ;  they  will  divide  the 
last  thing  they  have  with  you  and  invite  you  to  share 
the  best  they  have.  The  man  said:  “We  went  in  to 
spend  the  night  with  the  old  man.  The  old  man  and  his 
wife  lived  alone.  When  time  to  retire  came,  the  old  man 
went  up  a  ladder  into  the  loft  and  fixed  the  bed,  and 
said,  ‘  Men,  your  beds  are  ready,  climb  up  that  ladder  and 
go  to  bed.’  After  we  retired  we  heard  the  old  man  read¬ 
ing  his  Bible.  He  was  too  timid  to  have  his  family 
worship  in  the  presence  of  the  strangers  and  so  waited 
until  we  got  to  bed.  He  then  tried  to  read  his  Bible  but 
just  stumbled  over  it,  then  he  and  his  wife  got  down 
on  their  knees  together  to  pray.  We  heard  every  word 
the  old  man  said  as  he  prayed.  He  asked  the  Lord  to 
keep  and  protect  the  strangers  under  his  roof ;  forbid 
that  any  harm  should  befall  them ;  that  their  families  be 
protected,  and  that  they  be  allowed  to  return  to  their 
homes  safe  and  sound.  The  next  morning  I  said:  ‘  Let’s 
leave  our  baggage  with  this  old  man;  I  am  not  afraid  to 
trust  him  with  my  pocket-book.’  ”  The  doctor  said  to  him, 
“You  have  given  me  an  argument  against  your  infidelity.” 
The  reply  was,  “  I  didn't  believe  in  his  God,  but  I  knew 
he  believed  in  God,  and  I  knew  he  could  not  ask  him  to 


DOES  RELIGION  PAY? 


63 


protect  the  strangers  under  his  roof,  and  then  harm  them 
himself.”  I  wonder  if  this  man  had  learned,  before  re¬ 
tiring  that  night,  that  the  old  man  was  an  infidel,  he  would 
have  said,  “  Let’s  leave  everything  with  him.”  No, 
gentlemen,  he  would  have  said :  “  Get  up  everything  and 
git.  I  would  not  trust  him  with  a  tooth-pick.”  For  he 
had  sense  enough  to  know  that  the  man  who  believes  he 
will  die  like  a  hog,  will  live  like  a  hog.  Don’t  you  think 
the  infidel,  before  asking  the  Christian  to  give  up  his 
Christianity  and  accept  his  infidelity,  should  produce  at 
least  one  man  who  wras  a  Christian  and  who  lived  up 
to  the  principles  of  the  Christian  religion  and  thereby  was 
a  bad  man,  but  by  giving  up  Christianity  and  accepting 
infidelity  thereby  became  a  good  man?  I  think  so.  I 
can  produce  my  man.  When  I  was  pastor  at  Hickman, 
Kentucky,  I  had  a  deacon.  Brother  E.  Case,  eighty  years 
old,  who  was  an  infidel  until  he  was  forty  years  old.  He 
said  that  during  his  infidelity  he  had  committed  every 
crime  known  to  man,  except  that  of  gambling,  and  during 
that  time  he  was  in  good  standing  and  in  full  fellowship 
with  his  infidel  brethren.  Thomas  J.  Fisher,  a  noted 
evangelist  of  his  day,  held  several  meetings  in  Hickman, 
and  this  man  was  converted.  He  had  been  very  profane 
and  that  troubled  him;  he  was  afraid  he  would  swear 
after  he  was  converted,  so  he  said  to  his  wife,  who  was 
a  good  Christian  woman.  “  You  pray  for  me  and  ask  God 
to  give  me  grace,  and  I  promise  God  to  do  my  dead  level 
best  not  to  be  guilty  of  swearing.”  They  prayed  together, 
and  it  was  said  that  he  never  was  known  to  swear  after 
that  time.  He  became  a  very  godly  man,  reared  and 
educated  fourteen  orphan  children,  and  left  a  fund  for 
the  Odd  Fellows’  Home.  He  was  wicked  and  guilty  of 
almost  every  crime  while  an  infidel,  but  by  giving  up 
infidelity  and  accepting  Christianity  he  became  one  of  the 


64 


DOES  RELIGION  PAY? 


most  godly  men  in  all  that  country.  Now  don’t  you  think 
the  infidel  should  produce  at  least  one  case  like  that 
before  asking  the  Christian  to  quit  Christianity  and  take 
up  infidelity?  I  pledge  you  my  word  and  honor  before 
God  and  this  congregation  that  if  a  single  case  of  that 
kind  can  be  produced  I  will  give  up  Christianity  and 
accept  infidelity.  But  ah,  don’t  think  such  a  thing  will 
ever  come  to  pass  until  the  last  man  of  Adam’s  race  shall 
have  shuffled  off  this  mortal  coil  and  taken  on  a  spiritual¬ 
ized  body.  It  cannot  happen.  A  man  cannot  live  up  to 
the  principles  of  the  Christian  religion  and  be  a  bad  man, 
for  they  require  him  to  be  good,  clean,  and  honest. 

Another  witness  I  want  to  introduce  is  in  “  Uncle 
Tom’s  Cabin,”  written  by  Mrs.  Harriet  Beecher  Stowe. 
The  book  is  fiction  and  is  overdrawn,  as  is  all  fiction. 
Tom  Dixon’s  “  Leopard  Spots  ”  is  also  overdrawn  in  the 
other  direction.  It  is  not  true  to  the  general  conditions 
that  existed  throughout  the  South  during  the  reconstruc¬ 
tion  period.  Mrs.  Harriet  Beecher  Stowe’s  book  is  not 
true  to  the  general  conditions  of  the  time.  It,  no  doubt, 
represented  some  isolated  cases.  But  there  is  a  mighty 
truth  contained  in  the  book.  You  remember  how  she 
represents  the  slave-dealer,  Mr.  Hailey,  in  the  discussion 
with  Mr.  Shelby,  the  owner  of  Uncle  Tom.  Mr.  Shelby 
put  a  price  on  Tom.  “  That  is  too  much  for  any  nigger,” 
said  Mr.  Hailey.  “  But  you  must  remember,”  said  Mr. 
Shelby,  “  that  Tom  is  religious.”  “  Oh,  I  suppose  he  is 
religious,  as  niggers  generally  go,”  said  Mr.  Hailey. 
“No,  he’s  got  religion;  I  trust  him.  I  sent  him  some 
time  ago  to  Cincinnati  for  some  money ;  some  rough  fel¬ 
lows  got  hold  of  him  and  tried  to  induce  him  to  escape 
to  Canada  with  the  money,  but  he  said:  ‘No,  I  am  a 
Christian.  I  promised  my  master  I  would  return,  and  I 
will  do  it.’  ”  Then  Mr.  Hailey  said :  “  Religion  is  a  good 


DOES  RELIGION  PAY? 


65 


thing  for  a  nigger ;  it  makes  him  sell  monstrous  well.  The 
last  load  I  carried  down  the  Mississippi  River  there  was 
one  old  critter  on  there — ah,  it  was  like  a  camp-meeting 
to  hear  him  sing  and  pray.  I  realized  six  hundred  dollars 
profit  on  him  because  he  was  a  Christian.”  A  religious 
negro  would  sell  for  more  than  one  who  was  not  trust¬ 
worthy.  He  made  a  better  slave. 

Another  argument  in  favor  of  the  Christian  religion 
is  the  fact  that  the  world  expects  more  of  Christians  than 
they  expect  of  others.  You  let  some  Christian  minister 
get  drunk  or  commit  some  crime,  and  the  Associated 
Press  will  send  it  around  the  world  in  twenty-four  hours. 
Why?  Because  it  is  news;  it  is  the  unusual.  There  are 
men  committing  such  crimes  all  the  time  in  large  cities, 
but  the  newspapers  will  not  condescend  to  notice  them. 
But  if  a  preacher,  or  even  a  prominent  church-member, 
does  such  a  thing,  it  is  published  all  over  the  world. 
This  is  an  unwitting  compliment  that  the  world  pays  the 
Christian  religion.  The  world  always  expects  more  of 
us  than  they  expect  of  themselves,  and  this  is  an  admis¬ 
sion  that  there  is  a  power  in  our  religion  to  make  us 
better.  The  saddest  thing  that  could  befall  the  Christian 
religion  would  be  for  the  day  to  come  when  the  world 
expects  no  more  of  us  than  they  expect  of  themselves. 

Having  shown  that  the  testimonv  of  the  world  is  in 
favor  of  the  Christian  religion,  let  us  next  take  into  con¬ 
sideration 

II.  The  Character  of  This  Testimony 

The  character  of  testimony  and  the  circumstances 
under  which  it  is  given  are  just  as  important  as  the 
testimony  itself.  In  taking  testimony  you  want  to 
discover,  as  far  as  possible,  what  relation  the  witness 
sustains  to  the  case  in  hand,  what  might  have  been 


66 


DOES  RELIGION  PAY? 


the  possible  motive,  and  whether  or  not  the  witness 
receives  any  compensation  for  his  testimony.  These 
are  important  facts  in  testimony.  Notice  that  these 
witnesses  are  disinterested  witnesses  and  received  no 
compensation  for  their  testimony.  The  Bank  of  England 
is  not  a  religious  institution,  but  a  financial  institution. 
The  Chesapeake  and  Ohio  Railroad  Company  is  not  run¬ 
ning  its  business  in  the  interest  of  the  Christian  religion, 
but  in  the  interest  of  finances.  That  infidel  at  Newcastle 
was  not  intending  to  pay  a  compliment  to  the  Christian 
religion,  but  he  unconsciously  paid  it  a  great  compliment. 
Mrs.  Harriet  Beecher  Stowe  did  not  write  “  Uncle  Tom’s 
Cabin  ”  in  the  interest  of  the  Christian  religion,  but  in 
the  interest  of  the  abolition  of  slavery.  The  testimony  in 
each  case  was  unsought  and  unwittingly  given.  So  this 
is  the  best  possible  testimony ;  that  of  disinterested  wit¬ 
nesses,  and  witnesses  who  received  no  compensation  for 
their  testimony. 

III.  The  Conclusions  from  This  Testimony 

The  conclusions  are  two  :  First,  that  religion  is  valuable 
if  there  be  no  hereafter.  Suppose  we  blot  out  the  thought 
that  there  is  a  hereafter,  religion  pays  anyway.  Religion 
makes  a  man  better  in  every  way ;  makes  a  woman  a 
better  woman,  makes  boys  and  girls  better  boys  and  girls. 
Those  who  live  according  to  the  teachings  of  Christ  have 
better  consciences,  sleep  better,  get  more  out  of  this  life. 
The  religious  slave  sold  for  more  money  than  one  not 
religious.  There  are  better  positions  for  Christians  than 
those  not  Christians.  Religion  is  a  good  investment  here 
in  this  life,  to  say  nothing  of  that  which  is  to  come. 
There  is  nothing  in  the  Christian  religion  that  disqualifies 
a  man  for  the  greatest  joy  and  the  largest  usefulness  in 
this  life. 


DOES  RELIGION  PAY? 


67 


But  secondly,  in  view  of  the  fact  that  there  is  a  here¬ 
after,  the  Christian  religion  is  invaluable.  You  cannot 
estimate  the  value  of  the  Christian  religion  in  view  of 
both  time  and  eternity.  It  is  related  of  Bob  Ingersoll 
that  he  met  a  little  girl,  a  neighbor  of  his,  one  morning 
as  she  was  going  to  Sunday  school.  He  said  to  her, 
“You  are  going  to  Sunday  school?”  She  said,  “Yes, 
sir.’'  “  You  believe  in  Sunday  school,  do  you?  ”  “  Yes, 

sir.”  was  the  reply.  “  You  believe  in  heaven  and 
hell,  then  do  you?  "  “  Yes,  sir,”  she  said,  “  I  believe 

all  of  it."  He  said,  “  Go  ahead,  my  child,  it  will 
not  hurt  you;  it  will  be  all  the  same  with  you 
after  this  life  is  over."  “  But,”  she  said  to  him, 
“  Mr.  Ingersoll,  suppose  it  should  turn  out  that 
there  is  a  heaven  and  that  there  is  a  hell,  won’t  I  be 
better  off  for  believing  these  things?”  Ah,  that’s  the 
point.  She  was  right.  If  there  is  nothing  beyond  this 
life,  the  Christian  is  just  as  well  off  as  the  infidel ;  we 
are  better  off  in  this  life  and  we  shall  be  just  as  well  off 
if  blotted  out  hereafter.  A  Christian  nonentity  is  just 
as  good  as  an  infidel  nonentity.  If  the  infidel  is  right, 
there  is  nothing  to  be  lost  in  this  life  and  nothing  to  be 
lost  after  this  life  by  being  a  Christian;  but  if  the 
Christian  is  right,  there  is  much  to  be  gained  both  here 
and  hereafter.  The  infidel  savs,  “  I  have  no  fear  of  the 
future.”  The  Christian  says,  “  I  not  only  have  no  fear 
of  the  future,  but  I  have  a  hope  for  the  future.”  A  hope 
is  better  than  simply  the  absence  of  fear.  Let  us  say 
two  brothers,  John  and  Toe,  have  been  convicted  of  rob¬ 
bing  the  United  States  Government  of  a  one  thousand 
dollar  bill  each.  They  are  sentenced  to  be  executed,  or 
return  the  one  thousand  dollars  each.  They  are  in  jail 
awaiting  the  day  of  execution.  They  say,  “  We  are 
guilty,  ’but  we  have  squandered  the  money,  and  so  are 


68 


DOES  RELIGION  PAY? 


helpless.”  A  friend  comes  in  and  says :  “  I  have  come 
to  befriend  you.  I  will  give  you  each  a  one  thousand 
dollar  bill  and  let  you  return  it  to  the  Government  and 
go  home  to  your  families,  if  you  will  accept  it  as  a  gift.” 
Joe  says :  “  You  are  my  best  friend.  I  will  accept  your 
offer,  and  I  hope  to  prove  to  you  some  day  that  I  appre¬ 
ciate  your  kindness.”  John  says :  “  I  will  not  accept  that 
offer;  that  is  a  counterfeit  bill.”  But  Joe  says:  “Well, 
what  if  it  is,  you  are  none  the  worse  off;  it  costs  you 
nothing,  and  there  is  a  chance  that  it  is  all  right,  so  why 
not  take  it?”  He  says,  “No,  it  is  a  counterfeit  bill.” 
Joe  says,  “  I  am  getting  some  comfort  out  of  mine  now.” 
John  says:  “  I  am  a  free-thinker,  I  am  not  going  to  take 
it;  it  is  counterfeit.”  Joe  says,  “John,  father  tried  that 
bill,  and  he  said  it  is  all  right.”  “  Yes,”  replies  John, 
“  father  was  a  good  man,  but  father  did  not  think  for 
himself ;  he  was  an  old  traditionalist,  believing  what  his 
father  taught  him.”  Joe  says,  “  But,  John,  mother  tried 
that  bill,  and  the  last  thing  that  mother  said  was,  ‘  It  is 
all  right/  ”  “  Yes,  mother  was  a  good  woman,  but  mother 
was  not  a  free-thinker;  I  am.”  The  friend  says,  “  There 
are  a  few  people  who  say  this  bill  is  counterfeit,  but  no 
one  who  has  taken  it  to  the  bank  and  tested  it  says  it  is 
counterfeit,  and  those  who  have  not  tested  it  are  not 
competent  witnesses.”  John  refuses  the  offer.  They  are 
awaiting  the  day  of  execution — one  in  hope  and  the  other 
in  despair.  When  the  day  of  execution  comes  Joe  walks 
up  and  presents  his  bill,  and  the  judge  says,  “  According 
to  the  decree  of  the  court  you  are  a  free  man.”  When 
John  is  asked  what  he  has  to  present,  he  says,  “  Nothing 
but  to  be  executed.”  That  is  the  case  of  Christianity 
and  infidelity.  All  to  gain  and  nothing  to  lose  by  accept¬ 
ing  the  gift  of  eternal  life.  Some  say  Christianity  is  a 
failure,  but  in  every  such  case  the  witness  is  not  compe- 


DOES  RELIGION  PAY? 


69 


tent,  for  he  has  not  tested  it.  No  one  who  has  tested 
the  Christian  religion  to  a  dying  hour  has  said,  “  It  is  a 
failure/'  no,  not  one,  but  there  is  a  volume  of  testi¬ 
monies  of  dying  skeptics  who  say  infidelity  is  a  failure. 
There  is  nothing  to  look  forward  to  in  infidelity.  Always 
when  a  Christian  comes  to  die  he  looks  beyond  and  says 
it  is  bright  on  the  other  side.  Does  religion  pay?  Ask 
John  Randolph,  of  Roanoke,  and  hear  him,  in  the  dying- 
hour,  saying,  “  Remorse  !  remorse  !  remorse  !  ”  Does  re¬ 
ligion  pay?  Ask  Bob  Ingersoll,  as  he  goes  out  like  a 
flash,  and  hear  him  saying,  “  I  am  taking  a  fearful  leap 
in  the  dark.”  Does  religion  pay?  Ask  the  rich  man 
who  lifted  up  his  eyes  in  hell  and  said,  “  I  had  my  good 
things  in  yonder  world,  and  now  I  am  tormented  in  these 
flames.”  Does  religion  pay?  xA.sk  that  beggar  in  Abra¬ 
ham’s  bosom  and  hear  him  say,  “  I  had  a  hard  time  in 
yonder  world,  but  now  I  am  comforted.”  Does  religion 
pay?  Ask  that  old  mother  in  Israel  who  has  been  bereft 
of  every  member  of  her  family  and  is  standing  alone  like 
the  giant  oak  stripped  of  every  branch  by  the  cyclone ; 
hear  her  as  she  enters  the  chilly  waters  of  death  saying : 

’Tis  religion  that  can  give 

Sweetest  pleasures  while  we  live. 

’Tis  religion  must  supply 
Solid  comfort  when  we  die. 

If  I  should  ask  this  congregation  tonight  if  religion 
pays,  you  would  all  stand  to  a  man.  Then  why  not 
stand  tonight  for  Christ?  If  some  man  should  come  into 
this  town  with  a  good  investment  and  one  within  your 
reach,  you  would  get  all  the  stock  in  it  you  could  afford. 
An  investment  in  religion  is  the  finest  investment  in  the 
world.  Just  come  then  and  invest  your  heart  and  life 
in  it,  and  it  will  be  the  biggest  investment  you  ever 

F 


70 


DOES  RELIGION  PAY? 


made.  And  the  more  you  invest  in  religion  the  more 
you  get  out  of  it.  Give  your  heart  to  the  Lord  by 
faith  and  your  life  to  him  in  service.  Does  religion 
pay?  Yes,  it  is  the  biggest  paying  investment  in  this 
world. 


VII 


THE  GOSPEL  PLAN  OF  SALVATION 

“  Sirs,  What  must  I  do  to  be  saved?  And  they  said,  Be¬ 
lieve  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  thou  shalt  be  saved.” — 
Acts  16  :  30,  31. 

One  of  the  strangest  things  in  the  world  is  man’s  prone¬ 
ness  to  depart  from  God’s  ways,  and  to  devise  ways  and 
plans  of  his  own.  Man  has  never  been  satisfied  with 
God’s  way  of  doing  things.  He  is  always  trying  to  im¬ 
prove  upon  God’s  plans ;  trying  to  take  some  short  cut, 
even  on  the  plan  of  salvation.  But  you  cannot  take  a 
short  cut  on  a  straight  road.  You  can  take  a  short  cut 
on  a  crooked  road,  but  you  cannot  take  a  short  cut  on  a 
straight  road.  And  that  is  why  you  cannot  take  a  short 
cut  on  the  plan  of  salvation.  God’s  plan — oh,  how  sim¬ 
ple.  And  this  very  simplicity  has  often  been  the  grounds 
of  the  rejection.  Men,  like  Naaman  of  old,  want  to  do 
some  great  thing  instead  of  the  simple  thing  God  com¬ 
mands.  Some  people  are  always  complaining  about  what¬ 
ever  comes  their  way,  never  satisfied.  Some  one  has 
said : 

As  a  rule,  man’s  a  fool — 

When  it’s  hot,  he  wants  it  cool, 

When  it’s  cool,  he  wants  it  hot, 

Always  wanting  what  is  not, 

Ne’er  content  with  what  he’s  got. 

Some  men  always  think  the  other  fellow’s  wife  is  sweeter 
and  prettier  than  their  own.  Well,  may  be  the  other 
fellow’s  wife  would  not  be  so  sweet  and  attractive  if  she 

71 


72 


DOES  RELIGION  PAY? 


had  to  put  up  with  your  wife's  husband.  And  then  you 
do  not  see  the  other  fellow’s  wife  while  she  is  trying  to 
cook  breakfast  with  wet  stove-wood,  a  smoking  stove, 
and  everything  going  wrong,  and  before  she  gets  her 
“  make-up  ”  on.  Our  surroundings  have  much  to  do 
with  our  lives.  If  you  want  a  good  wife,  you  must  fur¬ 
nish  her  with  a  good  husband.  And  it  is  very  much  the 
same  with  the  man.  May  be  some  of  you  women  would 
have  better  husbands  if  they  only  had  better  wives,  and 
if  you  would  not  nag  at  them.  That  is  one  thing  a  man 
cannot  put  up  with.  Some  women  do  not  know  how  to 
do  anything  else.  Love  and  lead  is  better  than  nag  and 
drive.  Now  to  the  subject.  Here  is  the  simple  plan  of 
salvation  found  in  the  word  of  God.  This  is  the  only 
place  in  the  Bible  where  the  simple  straightforward  ques¬ 
tion  is  asked,  “What  must  I  do  to  be  saved?”  and  the 
answer  given,  “  Believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and 
thou  shalt  be  saved.”  There  are  two  other  questions  some¬ 
what  similar  to  this,  and  perhaps  they  mean  practically 
the  same  thing  as  this  one.  One  is  where  the  rich  young 
ruler  said,  “  What  shall  I  do  to  inherit  eternal  life?  ”  and 
the  other  is  where  Paul  said,  “  What  shall  I  do,  Lord  ?  ” 
But  this  is  the  only  place  where  the  simple  question  is 
asked,  “  What  must  I  do  to  be  saved  ?  ”  with  the  simple 
answer,  “  Believe  on  the  Lord,  and  thou  shalt  be  saved.” 
Here  we  have  the  Philippian  jailer  asking  these  men  of 
God  the  way  of  salvation.  He  found  salvation  that  night. 
Now,  would  it  not  be  the  part  of  wisdom  for  a  lost  sinner 
seeking  salvation  to  find  out  what  this  man  did  and  then 
do  the  same  thing? 

There  are  two  general  points  of  which  I  wish  to  take 
extended  notice  tonight :  First,  the  penitent  inquirer 
and  his  question,  and  secondly,  the  inspired  instructor 
and  his  answer. 


THE  GOSPEL  PLAN  OF  SALVATION  73 


I.  The  Penitent  Inquirer  and  His  Question 

The  jailer  fell  down  before  Paul  and  Silas  and  said, 
‘‘Sirs,  what  must  I  do  to  be  saved?”  This  question 
reveals  several  very  important  things,  and  things  abso¬ 
lutely  essential  to  salvation.  It  reveals  first  of  all  a  reali¬ 
zation  of  a  lost  condition.  I  do  not  know  just  how  the 
jailer  came  to  that  realization.  It  may  have  been  the 
singing  and  praying  of  these  men  of  God  in  the  jail  at 
midnight ;  it  may  have  been  the  earthquake,  and  the  loos¬ 
ing  of  the  bands  and  the  opening  of  the  prison  doors ; 
it  may  have  been  the  Holy  .Spirit;  or  perhaps  all  of  these 
made  such  an  impression  upon  the  jailer  as  to  cause  him 
to  realize  that  he  was  lost.  He  could  not  have  asked  this 
question  had  he  not  first  realized  that  he  was  lost.  Adam 
and  Eve  in  the  Garden  of  Eden,  ere  they  had  sinned, 
could  not  have  asked  that  question,  because  they  did  not 
realize  they  were  lost.  We  call  this  realization  of  a  lost 
condition  conviction.  No  matter  what  you  call  it.  The 
change  of  the  name  does  not  change  the  fact.  The  jailer 
felt  that  he  was  lost.  That  is  absolutely  essential  to 
salvation.  No  one  can  ever  be  saved  until  he  gets  to 
that  point  in  his  experience  where  he  realizes  that  he  is 
lost.  The  jailer  had  gotten  to  that  point. 

In  the  second  place,  this  question,  “  What  must  I  do  to 
be  saved?”  reveals  a  desire  for  salvation.  This  is  an¬ 
other  thing  which  is  absolutely  essential  in  coming  to  God 
for  salvation.  No  man  ever  received  salvation  until  he 
got  to  that  point  in  his  experience  where  he  desired  salva¬ 
tion.  God  does  not  take  men  by  the  hair  of  the  head,  so 
to  speak,  and  drag  them  into  salvation.  I  grant  you  that 
men  are  sometimes  convicted  when  thev  do  not  want  to 

j 

be  convicted,  and  when  they  struggle  against  conviction, 
but  they  are  not  saved  until  they  get  to  the  point  where 


74 


DOES  RELIGION  PAY? 


they  “  seek  the  Lord  with  the  whole  heart.”  “  They  that 
seek  me  early  shall  find  me.”  This  jailer  was  seeking  sal¬ 
vation  and  found  it.  Man  never  finds  salvation  until  he 
seeks  salvation. 

This  question  reveals,  in  the  third  place,  a  lack  of  in¬ 
formation  on  the  subject .  Perhaps  there  is  hardly  one 
present  here  tonight  who  does  not  know  the  terms  of 
salvation,  but  this  was  not  true  of  this  jailer.  No  doubt 
this  was  the  first  time  he  had  come  in  contact  with  the 
Christian  religion.  Now,  there  is  a  certain  amount  of 
knowledge  one  must  have  if  he  is  to  be  saved.  If  two 
persons  are  to  be  reconciled  they  must  understand  the 
terms  of  reconciliation.  But  one  does  not  have  to 
understand  all  the  catch  questions  in  the  Bible  before 
he  can  be  saved.  A  man  does  not  have  to  be  a  theologian 
in  order  to  be  saved,  and  whenever  you  hear  a  man  ask¬ 
ing  such  questions  as  “  Who  was  Melchizedek’s  father, 
and  who  was  Cain’s  wife?”  in  order  to  be  saved,  you 
may  know  that  he  is  simply  quibbling ;  he  is  not  seeking 
salvation. 

In  one  of  Mr.  Torrey’s  meetings  a  young  man  came  to 
him  after  preaching  one  night  and  said:  “  Mr.  Torrey,  I 
want  to  be  saved,  but  there  are  some  things  in  the  way 
of  my  salvation.  If  you  will  clear  these  matters  up  for 
me,  then  I  think  I  can  accept  salvation.”  “  Well,  what 
are  they?”  Mr.  Torrey  asked.  “I  want  you  to  explain 
to  my  satisfaction  who  Melchizedek’s  father  was,  and 
who  Cain’s  wife  was?”  Mr.  Torrey  was  too  wise  an 
evangelist  not  to  know  that  that  young  fellow  was  quib¬ 
bling.  He  pointed  his  finger  at  him  and  said,  “  What 
is  your  sin,  sir?  ”  The  young  fellow  turned  away  with¬ 
out  answering,  and  within  two  weeks’  time  that  young 
fellow  had  run  away  with  another  man’s  wife.  It  was 
not  Cain’s  wife,  but  some  other  fellow’s  wife,  that  was 


THE  GOSPEL  PLAN  OF  SALVATION  75 


troubling  him.  When  you  find  a  man  quibbling  that  way, 
you  may  know  he  is  just  trying  to  make  an  excuse  to 
cover  up  some  secret  sin.  The  truth  is,  if  you  ever  get 
to  the  bottom  of  it,  the  man  is  usually  living  a  double  life. 
This  jailer  was  not  disturbed  about  Melchizedek’s  father, 
nor  Cain’s  wife,  but  about  his  lost  condition. 

This  question,  “  What  must  I  do  to  be  saved?  ”  reveals 
a  fourth  fact,  i.  e.,  that  this  man  had  come  to  the  point 
where  he  was  willing  to  receive  information  from  any 
source  whatsoever.  This  man  was  a  Roman  officer,  and 
when  you  remember  the  self-conceit  and  arrogancy  of 
such  an  officer  and  think  of  his  falling  down  before  these 
despised  Jews  and  asking  them  to  teach  him  anything,  it 
shows  the  depth  and  genuineness  of  his  conviction.  He 
believed  these  men  were  in  touch  with  God  and  could  tell 
him  how  to  be  saved.  He  was  willing  that  anybody 
should  tell  him  the  way  who  knew  it.  Whenever  a  sinner 
is  really  in  earnest  about  salvation  he  is  willing  to  receive 
information  from  anybody  on  earth.  Rut  he  must  first 
realize  that  he  is  helpless  and  hopeless.  If  you  were  out 
in  one  of  these  dark  bottoms  and  hopelessly  lost,  you 
would  be  glad  to  get  information  from  anybody  about 
how  to  get  home.  If  you  were  to  meet  an  old  negro  of 
this  town  and  should  say,  “  Sam,  do  you  know  the  way 
out  of  here?”  and  he  should  say,  “Yes,  sir,  I  sho’  do,” 
would  you  then  stand  back  and  say,  “  I  don’t  want  him 
to  show  me  -anything,  he  is  not  my  equal  ”  ?  There  is 
not  one  of  you  but  would  be  glad  to  have  him  show  you 
the  way  out,  if  you  were  really  lost.  I  do  not  believe 
you  have  to  go  to  the  mourners’  bench  or  any  other  bench 
in  order  to  be  saved,  but  I  do  believe  you  have  to  get 
to  that  point  in  your  experience  where  you  are  willing  to 
go  to  the  mourners’  bench,  or  any  other  bench,  if  neces¬ 
sary,  to  be  saved. 


76 


DOES  RELIGION  PAY? 


A  young  master  had  an  old  negro  slave  who  had  been 
living  on  the  place  of  his  father  for  many  years.  He  was 
a  religious  negro ;  and  the  young  master  had  confidence 
in  him  and  his  religion.  The  master  said  to  him  one 
day,  “  Sam,  I  am  in  trouble,  I  want  you  to  pray  for  me.” 
The  old  negro  said :  “  Thank  de  Lord,  Massa,  dat  you’s 
in  trouble ;  yes,  sar,  I’ll  pray  for  you  ;  come  on  right  now.” 
The  old  negro  climbed  over  the  fence,  the  young  master 
following,  and  was  going  down  the  hillside  toward  a 
muddy,  slimy  pond.  “  Where  are  you  going?  ”  asked  the 
young  master.  The  reply  was :  “  I  am  going  right  down 
into  that  pond.  That  is  the  best  place  on  this  farm  to 
pray,  and  if  you  want  me  to  pray  for  you  you  have  to  go 
to  the  middle  of  that  pond.”  The  master  said :  “  I  don't 
believe  in  your  superstition.  Pray  right  here.”  The 
negro  said,  “  No,  I  can’t  pray  good  unless  you  go  to  the 
middle  of  the  pond.”  The  young  master  said :  “  Well, 
if  you  can  pray  any  better  in  the  middle  of  the  pond  than 
anywhere  else,  we  will  go.  I  want  you  to  pray  for  me.” 
The  old  negro  said :  “  Massa,  you's  gitten  about  right. 
We  can  pray  anywhar  now.”  It  was  not  the  question 
of  going  down  into  the  pond,  but  one  of  getting  to  the 
place  where  he  was  willing  to  go  there,  or  anywhere  else. 
The  old  negro  was  a  real  philosopher. 

When  I  was  a  boy  in  Tennessee  there  was  a  Methodist 
meeting  going  on.  Quite  a  number  of  boys  and  girls  of 
the  country  school  were  being  converted.  A  boy  was 
there  who  had  been  reared  in  a  Hard-shell  Baptist  family, 
who  was  convicted  and  in  distress.  When  asked  to  come 
forward  for  prayer  he  refused  to  go,  but  he  was  in  great 
agony.  He  said,  “  The  Lord  can  save  one  here  as  well 
as  anywhere  else.”  One  night,  however,  wTien  the  invi¬ 
tation  was  given  he  broke  down  and  could  not  stand  it 
any  longer,  and  as  he  stepped  out  into  the  aisle  he  made 


THE  GOSPEL  PLAN  OF  SALVATION  77 


the  surrender,  and  said:  “  It  is  all  over;  it  is  not  neces¬ 
sary  now  for  me  to  go.  Glory  to  God,  I’m  saved !  ” 
While  you  do  not  have  to  go  to  any  certain  bench  or  place, 
you  do  have  to  get  to  that  point  in  your  experience  where 
you  are  willing  for  God  to  have  his  way.  The  jailer 
was  dead  in  earnest  about  it,  and  was  willing  for  these 
despised  Jews  to  instruct  him  in  the  way  of  salvation. 
He  believed  on  the  Lord  with  all  his  house,  and  he  and 
all  his  house  were  saved  and  baptized  that  same  hour  of 
the  night.  The  modern  way  is  when  the  preacher  tells 
one  how  to  be  saved  is  to  say,  “  Some  time  when  I  have 
nothing  else  to  do  I  will  thrash  it  out.”  That  is  just  as 
good  as  the  devil  wants.  He  wants  you  to  be  saved  at 
any  time  except  NOW,  but  non'  never  suits  him.  The 
jailer  settled  that  question  that  same  hour  of  the  night. 

II.  The  Inspired  Instructor  and  His  Answer 

If  there  ever  was  a  man  peculiarly  fitted  to  give  in¬ 
struction  in  the  way  of  salvation,  Paul  was  that  man. 
Many  things  seem  to  converge  in  his  life  to  fit  him  for 
this  task.  First,  he  was  a  great  man  by  nature.  He  had 
a  giant  intellect.  His  mind  towered  above  men  of  ordi- 
narv  intellects  as  the  mountains  tower  above  mole-hills. 

j 

No  man  can  read  the  epistles  to  the  Ephesians,  Romans, 
etc.,  without  being  impressed  with  the  fact  that  Paul  was 
an  intellectual  giant.  He  was  also  an  educated  man. 
He  had  completed  the  course  at  Tarsus,  and  had  gone 
to  Jerusalem  and  had  taken  a  postgraduate  course  under 
Gamaliel.  Paul  was  not  only  a  great  man  but  in  addition 
to  that  he  was  a  converted  man.  He  was  great  by  nature, 
greater  by  education,  but  greatest  of  all  by  the  grace  of 
God.  Some  sixteen  years  before  this  time,  while  on  his 
way  to  Damascus,  Paul  was  stricken  down  by  a  bright¬ 
ness  above  the  brightness  of  the  Syrian  sun,  and  a  voice 


78 


DOES  RELIGION  PAY? 


said  unto  him:  “Saul,  why  persecutest  thou  me?  It  is 
hard  for  thee  to  kick  against  the  pricks.’’  The  Lord  told 
him  what  to  do ;  Paul  did  it  and  so  had  an  experience 
of  grace.  Not  only  was  Paul  an  educated  man,  and  a 
converted  man,  but  an  inspired  apostle.  He  was  born 
for  the  specific  purpose  of  leading  man  out  of  darkness 
into  the  light.  Then  surely  Paul  was  capable  of  telling  a 
poor  sinner  how  to  be  saved. 

What  did  he  tell  him?  He  said,  “  Believe  on  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  and  thou  shalt  be  saved.”  Do  you  believe 
Paul  told  that  man  the  truth?  Do  you  believe  Paul  told 
that  man  the  whole  truth  and  nothing  but  the  truth? 
Have  you  the  temerity  to  say,  “  I  believe  Paul  kept  back 
a  part  of  the  plan  of  salvation  from  this  man  ”?  Then 
if  Paul  told  this  man  the  truth,  the  whole  truth,  and 
nothing  but  the  truth,  would  we  not  be  justified,  under 
similar  circumstances,  in  telling  a  man  the  same  thing, 
nothing  more,  nothing  less?  I  think  so.  We  believe  in 
speaking  where  the  Bible  speaks,  and  in  keeping  silent 
where  the  Bible  is  silent. 

But  some  one  might  say,  “  Paul  did  not  tell  that  man 
to  repent.”  There  is  a  very  good  reason  why  he  did  not. 
Suppose  Paul  had  said  to  this  man,  “  Except  you  repent 
you  shall  perish,”  I  think  he  would  have  said,  “  Oh,  my 
friend,  I  realize  that;  tell  me  how  to  be  saved.”  Suppose 
Paul  had  said,  “  The  wicked  shall  be  turned  into  outer 
darkness,  where  there  shall  be  weeping  and  gnashing  of 
teeth,”  I  think  he  would  have  said,  “  Oh,  I  believe  that ; 
will  you  tell  me  how  to  be  saved?”  Then  Paul  says, 
“  Believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.”  Well,  why  did  not 
Paul  tell  him  that  at  first?  He  did,  and  it  would  have 
been  the  height  of  folly  to  have  told  him  anything  else. 
When  Paul  found  a  hard,  rebellious  sinner,  he  took  him 
to  Sinai  and  let  him  hear  the  mutterings  of  the  law  which 


THE  GOSPEL  PLAN  OF  SALVATION  79 


say,  “  The  soul  that  sinneth,  it  shall  die  ” ;  but  when  he 
found  a  penitent  who  had  gotten  to  the  point  where  this 
jailer  was,  he  took  him  to  Mount  Calvary  and  let  him 
hear  those  blessed  words,  “  For  God  so  loved  the  world, 
that  he  gave  his  only  begotten  Son,  that  whosoever  be- 
lieveth  in  him  should  not  perish,  but  have  everlasting- 
life.  ”  Paul  believed  in  rightly  dividing  the  word  of  truth, 
or  in  giving  to  each  one  that  part  of  the  word  which  was 
peculiarly  adapted  to  his  condition. 

We  learn  two  things  from  these  facts:  First,  that  this 
man,  though  penitent,  had  not  believed  on  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ.  It  is  always  repentance  and  faith.  There  is  no 
account  in  the  Bible  where  repentance  and  faith  are  men¬ 
tioned  in  close  proximity  where  they  are  not  in  that  order. 
It  is  never  reversed.  Then  repentance  precedes  faith. 
Some  tells  us  that  faith  precedes  repentance,  and  that  one 
must  believe  that  God  is,  before  he  can  repent.  But  be¬ 
lieving  that  God  is  is  not  exercising  saving  faith.  The 
man  that  believes  that  God  is,  does  nothing  more  than 
devils  do;  they  believe  that.  Man  can  believe  that  God 
is,  and  that  Jesus  Christ  is  the  Son  of  God,  and  be 
damned  while  believing  it.  That  is  not  saving  faith.  A 
man  can  believe  from  the  evidence  that  Jesus  Christ  is 
the  Son  of  God,  and  that  he  has  provided  a  way  of 
salvation  for  all  men,  and  still  be  lost.  One  must  take 
him  as  his  personal  Saviour  before  he  can  be  saved. 
There  is  a  difference  between  faith  and  belief.  One  of 
the  troubles  we  have  in  the  English  language  as  used  in 
the  Bible  today  is  that  we  have  no  verb  to  express  the 
act  of  faith.  We  have  belief  and  believe;  but  only  one 
word  for  faith.  If  we  had  a  verb  to  express  the  act  of 
faith  (e.  g.,  faithe),  we  would  not  have  this  confusion. 
Belief  and  faith  are  not  exactly  the  same,  and  therefore 
the  acts  of  both  cannot  be  accurately  expressed  by  the 


80 


DOES  RELIGION  PAY? 


same  word.  Belief  is  the  assent  of  the  mind  to  a  propo¬ 
sition  based  upon  the  evidence  in  the  case,  while  faith  is 
the  consent  of  the  heart  and  is  not  a  question  of  evidence, 
but  one  of  will.  You  have  to  believe  a  thing  whether 
you  want  to  or  not,  if  you  have  the  evidence.  You 
might  not  want  to  believe  that  your  son  was  out  there 
drunk,  but  if  you  go  out  there  and  see  it,  you  have  to 
believe  it  whether  you  want  to  or  not,  because  you  have 
the  evidence.  But  you  do  not  have  to  faithe  in  or  trust 
one,  unless  vou  want  to.  You  do  not  have  to  commit 
yourself  to  a  person,  or  thing,  against  your  will.  The 
words  “commit”  and  “faith"  are  largely  the  same. 
When  you  commit  yourself  to  one  is  when  you  exercise 
faith  in  one.  A  man  says  to  a  boatman  :  “  I  want  to  cross 
the  river,  but  I  must  have  some  evidence  that  your  boat 
is  safe.  I  want  to  see  it  tested.”  The  boat  carries  a  load 
of  passengers  over  and  brings  a  load  back,  and  the  boat¬ 
man  says,  “  Are  you  satisfied?  ”  The  man  says,  “  Yes.” 
The  boatman  says,  “  Well,  step  on.”  The  man  says, 
“  No,  not  yet.”  He  can  believe  that  the  boat  is  perfectly 
safe,  but  unless  he  steps  on  he  will  never  cross  the  river. 
When  he  steps  onto  the  boat  he  then  commits  himself  to 
it;  he  then  trusts  it.  The  stepping  on  is  a  question  of 
will.  He  had  to  get  to  the  point  where  he  says,  “  I  will.” 
But  a  man  can  believe  that  Jesus  Christ  is  the  Son  of 
God  and  the  Saviour  of  mankind,  and  that  he  offers 
salvation  to  all  men  without  money  and  without  price, 
and  go  to  perdition  believing  it.  You  must  not  only  be¬ 
lieve  he  is  God,  but  you  must  confess  him,  commit  your¬ 
self  to  him.  Committing  yourself  to  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  is  a  question  of  trust,  or  faith.  “  We  are  the 
children  of  God  by  faith.”  “  Believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  and  thou  shalt  be  saved.”  I  was  preaching  with 
Doctor  Eaton  in  the  Fourth  and  Walnut  Street  Church 


THE  GOSPEL  PLAN  OF  SALVATION  81 


in  Louisville  some  years  ago,  and  one  day  three  little  boys 
came  to  the  church  to  talk  with  the  pastor  about  religion. 
They  said  to  him,  “  Our  mothers  told  us  to  come  and 
talk  to  you,  and  if  you  thought  we  ought  to  join  the 
church,  we  could  do  so.”  Doctor  Eaton  said,  “  Boys,  I 
will  give  you  a  quarter  apiece  if  you  will  meet  me  here 
at  three  o’clock  this  afternoon.”  They  said,  “  All  right.” 
So  at  three  o’clock  Doctor  Eaton  was  there,  and  the  boys 
came  in.  He  said  to  them,  “  Boys,  what  did  you  come 
here  for?”  One  of  them  said,  “We  want  to  be  Chris¬ 
tians,  and  our  mothers  told  us  to  come  and  talk  with 
you  about  it.”  Another  said,  “  We  want  to  join  this 
church  if  you  find  us  to  be  all  right.”  “  What  else 
did  you  come  for?”  asked  Doctor  Eaton.  Finally  one 
of  the  boys  said.  “  You  said  you  would  give  us  a  quarter 
apiece  if  we  would  meet  you  here  at  three  o’clock.” 
Doctor  Eaton  said,  “  Well,  I  did  not  owe  you  a  quarter.” 
They  said,  “  No,  sir.”  “  Then  why  do  you  expect  me  to 
give  you  a  quarter  apiece?”  They  said,  “Because  you 
will  do  what  you  say  you  will.”  “  Have  you  had  any 
doubts  about  my  giving  you  the  quarter  apiece?  ”  They 
said,  “  No,  sir,  we  know  you  will  do  just  what  you  said 
you  would.”  Doctor  Eaton  then  said  :  “  Now,  boys,  I 
did  not  hire  you  to  meet  me  here,  for  you  had  already 
come ;  I  wanted  to  illustrate  faith.  Boys,  you  say  you 
have  come  expecting  me  to  do  exactly  what  I  said  I 
would  do?  ”  And  they  all  said,  “  Yes,  sir.”  Here  Doc¬ 
tor  Eaton  handed  them  the  quarters,  saying:  “  If  you  can 
trust  me  and  my  word  absolutely,  can’t  you  trust  God? 
Can’t  you  take  him  at  his  word?”  Doctor  Eaton  then 
turned  to  the  Bible  and  read  Romans  10  :  9  and  10 : 
“  That  if  thou  shalt  confess  with  thy  mouth  the  Lord 
Jesus,  and  shalt  believe  in  thine  heart  that  God  hath 
raised  him  from  the  dead,  thou  shalt  be  saved.  For  with 


82 


DOES  RELIGION  PAY? 


the  heart  man  believeth  unto  righteousness,  and  with  the 
mouth  confession  is  made  unto  salvation.”  “  Now,  boys,” 
said  Doctor  Eaton,  “  do  you  believe  in  your  hearts  that 
God  has  raised  Christ  from  the  dead,  and  are  you  willing 
to  confess  him  with  your  mouths  as  your  Saviour?” 
And  they  all  said,  “  Yes.”  He  said,  “  Do  you  believe 
God  saves  you  because  he  has  said  he  would  ?  ”  They 
said,  “  Yes.”  Doctor  Eaton  said,  “  Let’s  pray.”  They 
all  got  down  and  prayed  together,  and  after  the  prayer  he 
said,  “All  right,  boys,  I  am  satisfied.”  They  all  joined 
the  church,  and  I  saw  them  baptized.  There  is  nothing 
in  this  world  that  is  simpler  and  plainer  than  the  gospel 
plan  of  salvation.  It  is  so  plain  and  simple  that  a  way¬ 
faring  man.  though  he  be  a  fool,  need  not  err.  Men  often 
stumble  over  its  simplicity. 

Now  do  you  realize  that  you  are  a  hell-deserving  sinner, 
and  that  he  offers  you  salvation  without  money  and  with¬ 
out  price  ?  He  says,  “  Whosoever  will  may  come,”  and 
“  Him  that  cometh  unto  me  I  will  in  nowise  cast  out.”  If 
you  believe  in  your  heart  and  will  confess  with  your 
mouth  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  you  shall  be  saved.  It 
does  not  say  when  you  do  that  and  a  few  other  things, 
you  shall  be  saved.  Whatever  trouble  I  may  have  about 
my  life,  I  have  no  trouble  about  the  question  of  my  salva¬ 
tion.  I  know  I  have  believed  in  my  heart  and  confessed 
with  my  mouth  the  Lord  Jesus,  and  I  believe  God  will 
do  what  he  says  he  will.  That  is  faith. 

Are  there  those  here  tonight  who  will  simply  take  God 
at  his  word,  and  trust  Jesus  Christ  for  salvation?  If  you 
will  come  and  confess  him  as  your  Saviour  he  will  abun¬ 
dantly  pardon.  “  What  must  I  do  to  be  saved?  ”  “  Be¬ 

lieve  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  and  thou  shalt  be  saved.” 


VIII 


THE  HOLY  SPIRIT’S  EARNEST  APPEAL  TO 

PROMPT  ACTION 

“  The  Holy  Spirit  saith,  Today  if  ye  will  hear  his  voice, 
harden  not  your  hearts.” — Heb.  3  :  7,  8. 

While  I  make  an  earnest  appeal  to  the  lost  trying,  by 
the  help  of  the  Lord,  to  get  them  to  accept  Jesus  Christ 
as  their  personal  Saviour,  I  want  you  Christians  to  apply 
this  appeal  to  your  own  hearts  and  lives  as  to  your  Chris¬ 
tian  duty.  As  a  matter  of  fact  this  text  was  addressed 
to  Christian  people,  “To  them  who  have  obtained  like 
precious  faith  with  us.”  We  rebuke  the  sinner  for  his 
rebellion  saying,  “  How  dare  you  rebel  against  the  Spirit 
of  God?  ”  But  is  it  not  worse  for  us  who  claim  to  love 
the  Lord  to  rebel  against  him,  than  it  is  for  those  who 
do  not  love  him  ?  My  brother,  my  sister,  do  not  rebel ; 
if  God  speaks  to  you  tonight  to  go  speak  to  the  lost,  or 
to  go  out  and  invite  some  one  to  the  service,  do  not  harden 
your  heart  and  rebel  against  the  Spirit  of  God.  And  so 
while  I  shall  appeal  to  the  lost  to  be  saved,  I  shall  appeal 
to  you  at  the  same  time  to  do  your  Christian  duty.  This 
is  the  appeal  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  It  is  not  my  appeal. 

I.  The  Time  to  Act — Today 

Why  does  the  Holy  Spirit  put  in  that  word  “  today  ”? 
There  must  be  some  good  reason  for  it.  Every  time  this 
Scripture  is  quoted  (and  it  is  repeated  twice  in  the  third 
chapter  of  Hebrews,  and  quoted  there  from  the  Ninety- 

83 


84 


DOES  RELIGION  PAY? 


fifth  Psalm)  it  says  “  today.”  The  Holy  Spirit  urges 
action  today,  but  why?  I  think  I  can  give  you  some 
good  reasons  why.  First  of  all,  because  he  knows  how 
uncertain  a  thing  is  tomorrow.  The  Holy  Spirit  knows 
that  thousands  of  souls  are  lifting  up  their  fruitless  cries 
in  perdition  who  were  making  good  resolutions  for  to¬ 
morrow,  but  to  them  tomorrow  did  not  come.  I  recall 
a  number  of  instances  that  have  happened  where  I  have 
been  holding  meetings.  At  Hickman,  Kentucky,  there 
was  a  young  man  who  came  to  the  service  one  night  and 
was  very  much  moved,  and  felt  that  he  ought  to  go  up 
and  confess  Christ,  but  he  put  it  off.  Going  home  that 
night  with  his  sister  he  told  her  he  felt  very  much  like 
going  up  that  night ;  that  God’s  Spirit  was  moving  upon 
him,  and  he  wanted  to  go.  She  said,  “  Why  didn’t  you 
go?  ”  He  said,  “  If  I  had  gone  tonight  some  one  would 
have  said  that  I  simply  wanted  to  show  myself,  as  I  had 
just  gotten  home  from  the  West.”  That  was  the  devil 
talking  to  him ;  it  is  marvelous  the  things  he  can  suggest 
to  keep  people  from  being  saved.  The  devil  put  that 
thought  in  his  mind.  The  man  said  to  his  sister  though, 
“  The  very  next  service  I  will  go  up.”  The  sister  was 
delighted  that  he  had  made  up  his  mind  to  be  saved. 
The  next  time  did  not  come  for  him.  The  next  time  he 
was  not  there.  The  next  morning  early  that  young  fel¬ 
low  was  killed  accidentally.  I  heard  of  the  accident  and 
went  over.  The  broken-hearted  sister  told  me  what  he 
said  to  her  on  the  way  home  the  night  before.  He  re¬ 
solved  to  do  better  the  next  time,  but  the  next  time  never 
came.  God  does  not  give  us  any  promises  about  the 
next  time.  God  lives  in  the  now,  and  he  says,  “  Now 
is  the  accepted  time ;  this  is  the  day  of  salvation,”  and  he 
does  not  promise  you  any  tomorrow.  I  was  holding  a 
meeting  in  the  First  Baptist  Church  of  Pine  Bluff, 


THE  HOLY  SPIRIT’S  EARNEST  APPEAL  85 


Arkansas,  and  we  had  a  number  of  professions  and  addi¬ 
tions;  the  people  were  coming  in  great  crowds  at  every 
service,  and  they  were  standing  up  around  the  walls,  and 
every  available  space  was  taken.  Large  numbers  would 
go  back  into  the  Sunday-school  rooms  and  hold  prayer- 
meetings.  One  man  was  greatly  concerned  about  his 
brother,  who  was  wayward.  Four  men  banded  them¬ 
selves  together  to  pray  and  work  for  the  salvation  of 
that  man.  First,  they  were  to  get  him  to  the  services, 
and  finally  one  night  he  was  there,  and  the  brother  was 
delighted  that  this  brother,  who  had  not  been  to  church 
for  twenty  years,  had  come  to  the  service.  That  night 
after  the  service  the  Christian  brother  spoke  to  the  man 
and  told  him  he  was  so  glad  to  see  him  at  church  and 
that  he  wanted  him  to  become  a  Christian.  The  man 
said:  “Yes,  I  am  going  to  become  a  Christian,  but  it  is 
the  first  time  I  have  been  to  church  in  twenty  years.  I 
thought  I  would  go  up  tonight,  but  could  not  get  up  the 
courage,  but  I  have  made  up  my  mind  to  do  so.  I  am 
going  to  settle  the  question  tomorrow  night.”  But  he 
was  not  there  the  next  night.  The  very  next  morning 
while  he  was  washing  his  face  for  breakfast  a  stroke  of 
apoplexy  took  him  away.  The  next  time  did  not  come. 
The  Holy  Spirit  knows  there  are  multiplied  thousands  in 
perdition  who  were  making  good  resolutions  for  tomor¬ 
row,  and  in  good  faith  too,  but  they  did  not  have  a 
tomorrow. 

Then  the  Holy  Spirit  knows  too,  that  those  who  are 
making  good  resolutions  for  tomorrow  and  who  may  have 
a  tomorrow,  may  be  only  less  inclined  than  they  are  today. 
They  were  perfectly  honest  about  it,  they  expected  to 
act,  but  they  did  not.  Why  should  you  think  you  can 
do  any  better  tomorrow  than  you  can  today  when  God’s 
Spirit  is  drawing  today,  and  he  may  not  draw  tomorrow ; 

G 


86 


DOES  RELIGION  PAY? 


and  why  should  you  think  it  would  be  easier  to  act  after 
letting  the  devil  win  another  victory  over  you?  Every 
time  you  miss  an  opportunity  to  be  saved,  your  oppor¬ 
tunities  are  diminished  by  so  much.  If  you  had  a  thou¬ 
sand  chances  to  be  saved  and  only  one  chance  to  be 
damned,  and  you  neglect  the  thousand  chances  to  be 
saved,  the  one  chance  will  damn  you.  If  you  had  a 
thousand  chances  to  be  damned  and  only  one  chance  to 
be  saved,  the  one  chance  will  save  you  if  you  seize  and 
use  it.  If  the  Holy  Spirit  is  drawing  you  tonight,  do  not 
harden  your  heart. 

Again,  the  Holy  Spirit  knows  that  the  devil  is  urging 
delay.  This  is  the  shrewdest  trick  of  the  devil.  I  do  not 
believe  the  devil  is  fool  enough  to  try  to  make  men  believe 
they  have  no  souls,  that  there  is  no  heaven,  no  hell ;  but 
I  do  believe  the  shrewdest  trick  of  the  devil  is  to  teach 
procrastination.  You  become  harder  and  harder  and 
become  entangled  deeper  and  deeper  in  the  meshes  of  sin, 
and  the  chances  of  your  becoming  saved  are  fewer  every 
time  you  delay.  The  devil  urges  you  to  wait  for  that 
very  reason.  Did  you  ever  think  of  the  fact  that  when 
you  say  there  will  be  a  better  time  to  be  saved  than  today, 
you  call  in  question  either  the  omniscience  or  the  veracity 
of  God.  When  the  devil  says  there  will  be  a  better  time 
for  you  to  be  saved,  he  is  saying  God  does  not  know,  or 
he  deliberately  falsifies  about  it.  For  God  says,  “  This  is 
the  time,  the  acceptable  time,”  and  the  only  time  you 
have. 

The  Holy  Spirit  urges  you  to  come  to  God  today, 
because  he  knows  if  you  are  ever  saved  it  must  be  in  the 
now.  No  man  was  ever  saved  in  the  past,  and  no  man 
can  ever  be  saved  in  the  future.  It  must  be  in  the  Now. 
As  long  as  a  man  is  “  going  to  be  saved  ”  he  is  lost. 
The  present  is  the  only  time  in  which  men  can  act. 


THE  HOLY  SPIRIT’S  EARNEST  APPEAL  87 


Time  was,  is  gone, 

Thou  canst  not  it  recall. 

Time  present  thou  hast. 

Employ  the  portion  small. 

Time  future  is  not,  and  may  never  be; 

Time  present  is  the  only  time  for  thee. 

GocEs  Word  teaches  that  this  is  the  accepted  time,  and  that 
you  have  no  right  to  trifle  with  your  soul’s  eternal 
interest.  The  giver  has  the  right  to  fix  the  time  and 
the  manner  of  a  gift ;  but  you  have  no  right  at  all  in  the 
premises.  Now  if  it  were  a  debt  God  owed  you,  then 
you  would  have  some  rights  as  to  when  and  how  it 
should  be  paid ;  but  salvation  is  a  gift  and  if  you  accept 
it  you  must  accept  it  as  a  gift  and  at  his  time,  not  yours. 
Having  noticed  the  time  to  act,  “  Today,”  let  us  notice 

II.  The  Condition  on  Which  to  Act 

“  If  you  hear  his  voice.”  Why  does  the  Holy  Spirit 
put  in  that  condition,  “If  you  hear  his  voice”?  Why 
wait  to  hear  his  voice?  Why  should  you  wait  to  feel 
God’s  Spirit  drawing  you?  Why  not  act  whether  he 
draws  or  not?  Now,  my  friends,  these  are  very  good 
reasons  why.  He  knows  you  cannot  act  without  hearing 
it.  The  Holy  Spirit  knows  that  you  cannot  come  to  God 
unless  you  are  drawn  by  the  Spirit.  “No  man  can  come 
to  me  except  the  Father,  which  sent  me,  draw  him.” 
God  must  work  in  us  both  to  will  and  to  do,  or  we  cannot 
will  and  cannot  do.  You  can  rebel  against  God’s  Spirit 
and  refuse  to  act  when  he  draws,  but  you  cannot  act 
without  the  drawing  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  “  No  man  can 
come  to  me  except  the  Father,  which  sent  me,  draw  him.” 
It’s  a  moral  impossibility,  and  a  spiritual  impossibility  for 
one  to  come  to  God  without  the  drawing  of  the  Spirit. 
There  were  several  doctors  who  made  headquarters  in 


88 


DOES  RELIGION  PAY? 


my  drug  store  when  I  was  in  the  drug  business.  Two  of 
them  got  into  a  heated  argument  one  day  about  this  point ; 
they  were  men  of  about  the  same  age ;  one  was  an  infidel 
and  the  other  a  Christian.  The  Christian  doctor  said  a 
man  could  not  do  anything  without  some  incentive  or 
impelling  power.  The  infidel  said,  “  I  can  create  within 
myself  the  inclination  to  act  and  do  anything  I  please.” 
The  Christian  man  said,  “  You  cannot  do  a  thing  unless 
there  is  a  motive  for  the  action.”  “  Yes,”  said  the  other, 
“  I  can  create  within  myself  the  motive.”  The  Christian 
said,  handing  the  other  man  his  knife,  “  Take  this  knife 
and  drive  it  into  my  heart.”  The  infidel  said,  “  I  can 
do  it.”  The  other  said,  “Well,  do  it.”  The  infidel 
said,  “  But  there  is  no  reason  for  my  doing  it.”  The 
Christian  doctor  said,  “  That  is  just  why  you  cannot  do 
it.”  The  infidel  said,  “  I  can,  but  I  don’t  want  to  do  it.” 
“  That  is  the  trouble,”  said  the  Christian  doctor,  “  there 
is  no  incentive  to  do  it,  but  if  I  should  spit  in  your  face 
then  you  could  drive  it  up  to  the  hilt  into  my  heart.” 
He  might  have  felt  like  driving  it  up  to  the  hilt  into  his 
heart  and  yet  rebelled  against  the  inclination,  but  he  could 
not  do  it  without  the  incentive.  It  is  a  moral  impossi¬ 
bility  for  a  man  to  act  without  motive  or  incentive.  If 
you  cannot  come  when  he  is  drawing,  how  can  you  come 
when  he  is  not  drawing?  You  may  rebel  against  the 
drawing  but  you  can’t  act  without  it,  for  there  will  be  no 
incentive,  no  motive  for  action ;  and  the  devil  knows  that 
as  well  as  the  Holy  Spirit  knows  it.  If  he  can  get  you 
to  delay  until  God’s  Spirit  draws  no  longer,  then  he 
knows  it  is  settled.  Your  doom  is  fixed.  Your  condition 
for  eternity  is  sealed. 

Again,  I  think  the  Holy  Spirit  puts  in  this  condition, 
“If  you  hear  his  voice,”  because  he  knows  there  are  some 
who  have  heard  God's  voice  in  other  days  who  do  not 


THE  HOLY  SPIRIT’S  EARNEST  APPEAL  89 


hear  it  now.  Sometimes  you  hear  men  say :  “  The  gospel 
has  lost  its  power;  it  does  not  draw  now  as  it  once  did.” 
The  change  is  in  the  sinner,  not  in  the  gospel.  I  think  the 
Holy  Spirit  urges  action  today  because  he  knows  some 
will  never  hear  his  voice  again.  God’s  Spirit  will  not 
always  strive  with  men.  God’s  voice  has  already  ceased 
to  strive  with  some.  A  preacher  once  told  me  he  was 
riding  along  the  pike  in  Shelby  County,  Kentucky,  one 
day  when  he  saw  quite  an  old  man  breaking  rock  on  the 
side  of  the  pike.  He  said  it  came  into  his  mind  to  speak 
to  the  man  and  ask  him  how  old  he  was.  The  man  said, 
“  I  am  eighty  years  old.”  “  The  Lord  has  spared  you  for 
a  long  time,”  said  the  preacher,  “  are  you  a  Christian?  ” 
The  old  man  dropped  his  mallet  and  said,  “  No,  I  am  not 
a  Christian.”  The  preacher  said,  “  Don’t  you  think  you 
should  be?  ”  “  Yes,”  said  the  old  man,  “  I  wish  I  were; 

I  ought  to  have  been  long  ago.  I  expected  to  be,  but  I 
have  missed  my  opportunity.”  The  preacher  said,  “  May 
be  not.”  He  said  :  “  It  is  too  late  now ;  it  is  settled.”  He 
said :  “  When  I  was  a  young  man  I  fully  intended  to  be  a 
Christian.  I  had  no  thought  of  neglecting  my  oppor¬ 
tunity.  Sometimes  God’s  Spirit  would  draw,  and  I  would 
almost  have  to  hold  the  back  of  the  pew  where  I  was  to 
keep  from  going  up,  and  finally  that  impression  left  me, 
and  for  forty  years  I  have  had  no  impression  of  that 
kind.”  The  preacher  said,  “  Maybe  there  is  yet  a 
chance.”  “  No.  it  is  too  late,”  said  the  old  man.  “  I 
have  had  no  impressions  of  that  kind  for  forty  years 
now.  I  would  give  my  right  arm  just  to  feel  that  im¬ 
pression  once  more,  but  there  is  no  chance  for  me.”  That 
is  one  of  the  saddest  things  in  the  world.  Too  late;  too 
late ! 

Of  all  sad  words  of  tongue  or  pen, 

The  saddest  are  these,  It  might  have  been. 


90 


DOES  RELIGION  PAY? 


Your  pastor  told  me  today  of  a  prominent  lawyer  in 
Alabama  who  talked  with  him  and  told  him  that  he  had 
an  opportunity  once  to  be  saved,  but  he  finally  delayed  on 
account  of  a  dirty  deal  which  he  was  negotiating.  He 
said  it  was  a  question  of  becoming  a  Christian  or  robbing 
an  estate  of  a  farm  which  he  had  his  heart  set  upon.  He 
finally  said  to  himself :  “  I  had  better  get  this  plantation 
now ;  better  take  this  farm  while  I  can  get  it  and  look 

after  salvation  later.”  He  threw  oft*  the  impression  of 

% 

the  Spirit  and  got  the  farm,  but  God’s  Spirit  departed 
from  him  and  never  came  again.  The  old  lawyer  said, 
“  William,  go  ahead  and  preach  to  young  men,  but  don’t 
waste  your  time  on  old  men  like  me  who  have  lost  their 
opportunity.”  One  of  the  saddest  things  in  all  the  world 
is  to  see  a  man  sit  down  coolly  and  say,  “  There  is  a 
chance  of  salvation  for  me,  but  I’ll  take  worldly  gain  now 
and  take  my  chance  on  salvation  later.”  Maybe  there 
is  some  man  here  tonight  who  has  felt  God  drawing  him 
in  other  days,  but  who  has  simply  rebelled  against  God’s 
Spirit  until  God  has  said,  ”  Let  him  alone.”  And  maybe 
he  has  not  been  disturbed  by  the  Spirit  of  God  since.  If 
you  hear  his  voice,  if  you  feel  his  drawing,  act  today. 
Now,  for  God’s  sake  and  for  your  soul’s  sake  don’t  miss 
your  opportunity.  Next,  let  us  notice 

III.  The  Specific  Action  Enjoined 

“  Harden  not  your  heart.”  Every  man  has  the  power 
to  harden  his  own  heart.  You  can  exercise  the  powers  of 
your  own  volition,  but  do  not  use  them  to  rebel  against 
the  Spirit  of  God  when  he  is  offering  you  salvation  with¬ 
out  money  and  without  price.  This  is  hazardous;  it  is  a 
tragedy.  But  what  does  it  mean  to  harden  one’s  heart? 
Heart  here,  of  course,  does  not  mean  this  organ  of  flesh. 
It  means  what  you  usually  mean  when  you  say  a  man  is 


THE  HOLY  SPIRIT’S  EARNEST  APPEAL  91 


hard-hearted  or  tender-hearted.  You  do  not  have  refer¬ 
ence  to  this  organ  that  pumps  the  blood  through  the  body. 
A  kind-hearted  man  is  one  who  feels  sympathy  and  has 
brotherly  kindness.  And  when  God  speaks  of  the  heart 
he  means  that  part  of  the  man  which  hates,  loves,  feels, 
wills;  the  sensibilities  of  the  man.  How  does  one  harden 
one’s  heart?  As  he  hardens  the  muscles?  You  put  a 
man  out  in  a  ditch  with  a  spade,  and  if  he  will  keep 
that  up  his  muscles  will  become  hard.  They  will  not  be 
sore  and  tender  as  they  once  were,  they  become  hardened. 
A  man  hardens  his  heart  as  he  hardens  his  conscience. 
Do  you  remember  the  first  time  you  swore  an  oath,  and 
how  that  night  you  could  not  sleep?  Maybe  the  next 
time  it  troubled  you  again  but  not  so  much,  but  by  and 
by  you  got  to  the  point  where  you  could  swear  without 
any  compunction  of  conscience.  You  had  hardened  your 
conscience.  You  can  rebel  against  your  conscience  until 
it  becomes  seared.  You  can  disregard  the  appeals  of 
God  until  you  cannot  feel  him  draw  any  more ;  you  have 
become  insensible  to  his  voice.  Did  you  ever  try  an  alarm 
clock?  The  first  morning  it  went  off  you  jumped  up  and 
did  wish  the  thing  would  hush.  It  seemed  that  it  would 
wake  up  everybody  on  the  place.  For  a  while  you  would 
hear  it  go  off  and  you  would  turn  over  and  sleep  on,  and 
finally  you  slept  on  and  never  heard  it  at  all.  The  clock 
was  not  at  fault,  it  made  just  as  much  noise  as  ever;  there 
was  no  change  in  it ;  but  by  disregarding  that  sound,  you 
had  become  insensible  to  it.  God  says  that  men,  by  re¬ 
belling  against  his  law,  harden  their  own  hearts  and  blind 
their  own  eyes  and  stop  their  own  ears.  Men  can  rebel 
against  the  truth  until  they  get  to  the  point  where  they 
believe  truth  is  error  and  error  is  truth.  If  you  close  the 
only  door  of  hope  that  is  open  to  you,  you  have  done  it 
yourself.  If  you  put  out  your  eyes  deliberately  you  can- 


92 


DOES  RELIGION  PAY? 


not  blame  God  if  you  grope  in  darkness  the  balance  of 
your  life.  God  has  given  you  opportunities,  and  if  you 
deliberately  throw  them  away  you  have  done  it  yourself. 

It  is  a  terrible  thing  for  a  man  who  has  an  opportunity 
to  be  saved,  deliberately  to  throw  away  his  chance  of 
heaven  and  take  hell.  There  are  two  places  for  the 
departed  spirits  of  men,  and  the  departed  soul  will  go  to 
that  place  for  which  it  is  fitted,  when  it  leaves  the  body. 
There  is  nothing  else  left  for  you  to  do,  if  you  will  not 
accept  salvation,  but  to  accept  damnation.  He  is  offering 
to  you  salvation  tonight,  and  he  says,  “  Harden  not  your 
hearts.”  Some  of  these  girls  and  boys  are  old  enough  to 
be  saved,  and  yet  who  are  not  saved,  according  to  their 
own  testimony.  There  are  older  people  here  too,  who 
ought  to  act  tonight,  because  God’s  Spirit  is  moving. 
Will  this  entire  congregation  pray  for  God’s  Spirit  to 
move  mightily  on  this  people  tonight  that  those  who  are 
lost  may  be  saved?  Oh,  open  up  your  hearts,  and  let 
Jesus  come  in.  What  will  you  do  with  Jesus  tonight? 
What  will  you  do  with  the  question  of  your  salvation 
tonight?  Harden  not  your  heart. 


IX 


PREPARE  TO  MEET  GOD 

“  Prepare  to  meet  thy  God.” — Amos  4  :  12. 

We  come  to  the  last  service  of  this  series  of  meetings, 
and  as  my  last  message  I  urge  you  to  prepare  to  meet 
God.1  Now  it  may  be  that  most  of  you  are  already 
prepared  to  meet  God,  that  is  to  say,  you  are  Christians 
and  you  are  saved.  But  I  dare  say  if  you  knew  this 
would  be  the  last  night  you  would  have  on  earth  and  at 
sunrise  in  the  morning  you  would  be  called  on  to  give 
account  of  the  deeds  done  in  the  body,  there  would  be 
many  things  that  you  would  want  to  straighten  up.  If 
we  all  knew  this  was  the  last  night  we  would  have  on 
earth,  this  whole  town  would  be  in  a  mighty  stir  tonight. 
Inasmuch  as  we  do  not  know  that  we  shall  not  be  called 
into  eternitv  tomorrow,  we  should  act  as  if  it  were  the 
last  day  on  earth ;  then  we  shall  do  the  right  thing.  We 
come  to  this  last  appeal  for  you  to  prepare  to  meet  God. 
Inasmuch  as  we  must  meet  God  both  here  and  hereafter, 
I  shall  use  this  text  in  this  way;  and  I  think  I  do  no 
violence  to  the  Scripture. 

This  is  the  only  place  to  prepare  for  the  real  life  which 
is  to  come.  Do  we  really  believe  that  doctrine?  There 
is  a  legend,  simply  a  myth,  but  it  has  a  moral :  That  once 
upon  a  time  a  being  came  to  this  earth  from  a  planet 
where  death  was  unknown.  He  had  been  wined  and  dined, 
taken  into  the  halls  of  amusement  and  the  busy  marts  of 


1  These  sermons  are  not  given  in  the  order  in  which  they  were  delivered. 

93 


94 


DOES  RELIGION  PAY? 


commerce.  Finally,  he  was  taken  to  the  cemetery.  This 
was  a  new  sight  to  him.  He  said,  “  What  is  that?  ”  The 
answer  was,  “  That  is  the  place  where  we  bury  the  dead.” 
“What  do  you  mean  by  the  dead?”  he  asked.  They 
said,  “  These  people  you  see  on  the  streets  do  not  live 
always,  they  die,  and  we  bury  them  under  these  mounds.” 
“And  what  becomes  of  them  after  they  die?  ”  he  asked. 
“  That  just  depends.  Those  who  are  prepared  for  heaven 
by  repentance  and  faith  go  to  heaven,  and  those  who  are 
not  prepared  for  heaven  go  into  eternal  punishment.” 
“  Do  you  mean  to  tell  me/'  said  he,  “  that  these  people 
go  to  a  place  of  eternal  joy,  or  to  eternal  punishment, 
and  that  only  those  go  to  the  place  of  eternal  happiness 
who  have  made  preparation  for  it,  and  yet  I  have  seen 
nobody  making  preparations  to  go  to  heaven?  Do  you 
really  believe  it?  ”  My  friends,  do  we  really  believe  that 
this  is  not  our  home ;  that  this  is  only  a  place  of  prepara¬ 
tion  for  eternity,  and  not  really  where  we  spend  it?  It 
seems  to  me  sometimes  when  I  think  of  the  time  that  is 
given  to  preparation  for  this  life  and  how  little  time  we 
give  to  that  life  which  is  beyond,  that  we  do  not  believe 
the  doctrine  we  preach  of  immortality,  and  that  there  are 
but  two  places  to  which  we  can  go  after  death — eternal 
bliss  and  eternal  punishment. 

I.  All  Must  Meet  God 

This  is  inevitable.  It  is  not  a  question  of  whether 
we  are  prepared  to  meet  God  or  not.  All  must  die, 
and  after  death  the  resurrection  and  the  judgment. 
We  must  meet  God  whether  we  are  prepared  or  un¬ 
prepared.  We  have  to  meet  him  in  the  calamities 
here  in  this  life.  One  may  refuse  to  entertain  the 
very  thought  of  God  while  in  the  prime  of  manhood 
and  the  vigor  of  strength.  I  think  sometimes  one  can 


PREPARE  TO  MEET  GOD 


95 


resist  the  Spirit  and  go  out  into  the  halls  of  revelry 
or  into  the  busy  marts  of  commerce  and  drive  away 
the  very  thought  of  God.  But  in  driving  away  the 
consciousness  of  the  presence  of  God  you  have  done  a 
hazardous  thing.  Some  people  will  go  out  and  get 
drunk,  to  drown  their  troubles.  Yes,  you  can  drown 
your  troubles  in  this  way,  for  when  you  get  drunk  you 
get  into  a  bigger  trouble  and  lose  sight  of  the  less. 
Sometimes  men  succeed  in  drowning  the  conscious¬ 
ness  of  the  Spirit  of  God  when  he  is  knocking  at  their 
hearts.  The  Holy  Spirit  may  leave  you  at  your  bid¬ 
ding  and  may  not  return  at  your  call.  You  will  call, 
and  he  will  not  answer.  Again,  we  must  face  God  in 
death.  You  cannot  get  away  from  him  then,  you  have 
to  face  God,  for  death  is  God’s  messenger.  It  must  be 
a  terrible  thing  to  think,  “  I  have  spent  my  life  in  sin 
and  rebellion  against  God,  and  now  I  am  dying  and  I 
am  forced  to  stand  face  to  face  with  him.”  Oh,  I  think 
one  would  feel  relieved  if  he  knew  God  would  never 
call  him  before  him  again,  but  that  is  not  the  last  of  it. 
You  will  have  to  come  before  God  in  the  resurrection 
morning.  John  tells  us  the  hour  is  coming-  when  all 
in  the  graves  shall  come  forth.  Some  tell  us  that  the 
wicked  have  perished  in  death,  that  they  are  not  in 
their  graves.  But  John  seems  to  have  given  this 
Scripture  to  answer  that  very  heresy.  He  not  only 
says,  “  All  who  are  in  their  graves  shall  come  forth,” 
but  he  adds:  “They  that  have  done  good,  unto  the 
resurrection  of  life ;  and  they  that  have  done  evil  unto  the 
resurrection  of  damnation.”  The  wicked  have  not 
perished.  They  are  in  their  graves,  and  they  are  going 
to  have  to  come  forth.  Both  classes  are  there,  John 
tells  us.  Maybe  you  think  that  is  the  end  of  it.  But 
we  must  all  stand  before  him  in  the  great  judgment. 


96 


DOES  RELIGION  PAY? 


Jesus  Christ  is  to  be  the  Judge  on  that  momentous 
occasion.  I  am  glad  he  is,  not  that  I  think  God  would 
not  give  us  justice,  but  I  think  Jesus  will  look  on 
us  in  sympathy,  as  he  has  had  a  human  body  and  has 
been  tempted  as  we  have.  Yes,  when  Peter  comes  up 
and  says,  “  Lord,  you  know  how  I  denied  you  and 
cursed;  I  am  ashamed  of  it,"  I  think  Jesus  will  say 
to  Peter,  “  I  can  sympathize  with  you,  Peter,  as  I  have 
been  tempted  in  all  points  as  you  have.”  Yes,  God 
has  committed  all  judgment  into  the  hands  of  the  Son. 
I  imagine  it  will  be  a  great  sight  when  all  the  nations 
of  the  earth  come  up  before  Jesus  Christ,  and  he  shall 
separate  the  sheep  from  the  goats.  God  knows  who 
they  are,  and  they  themselves  know  where  they  belong. 
This  is  not  to  be  a  day  of  examination,  or  a  day  of  trial, 
but  a  day  of  assignment  for  all  eternity.  It  is  going 
to  be  a  great  day.  And  Jesus  will  say  to  those  on 
the  right  hand,  “  Come,  ye  blessed  of  my  Father,  in¬ 
herit  the  kingdom  prepared  for  you  from  the  founda¬ 
tion  of  the  world,”  and  to  those  on  the  left  hand  he 
will  say,  “  Depart  from  me,  ye  cursed,  into  everlasting 
fire  prepared  for  the  devil  and  his  angels  ” ;  and  as  the 
nations  of  the  earth  come  up  they  will  separate  them¬ 
selves,  to  the  right  and  to  the  left ;  they  know  where 
they  belong.  The  righteous  will  turn  into  that  place 
prepared  for  them  from  the  foundation  of  the  world, 
and  the  wicked  will  turn  into  that  place  prepared  for 
the  devil  and  his  angels,  as  Jesus  speaks  that  terrible 
sentence  to  them,  “  Depart,  ye  cursed.”  Now,  you  can 
decide  the  question  here  tonight,  but  if  you  put  it  oft* 
till  then  you  cannot  decide  it.  As  death  finds  you,  so 
will  the  Judgment  receive  you,  and  as  the  Judgment 
receives  you,  so  will  eternity  retain  you.  As  the  tree 
falls  so  it  must  lie.  I  beseech  you  to  determine  to- 


PREPARE  TO  MEET  GOD 


97 


night  whether  you  will  seek  God  now,  or  continue  in 
your  sin  and  hear  that  awful  doom,  “  Depart,  ye 
cursed,  into  everlasting  fire  prepared  for  the  devil  and 
his  angels.”  What  will  you  do  tonight?  Are  you 
going  to  rebel  against  God,  and  hear  the  appeal  of 
Satan  and  follow  him?  Oh,  hear  the  voice  of  God, 
and  not  the  voice  of  the  devil.  Having  noticed  the 
fact  that  all  must  meet  God,  next  I  wish  to  notice 

II.  All  by  Nature  Are  Unprepared  to  Meet  God 

We  are,  by  nature,  the  children  of  wrath  and  not  of 
God.  We  are  conceived  in  sin  and  brought  forth  in 
iniquity.  We  take  to  sin  as  naturally  as  water  runs 
down-hill  or  the  sparks  fly  upward.  We  are  by  nature 
depraved.  We  are  aliens  by  birth  and  sinners  by  practise. 
Depravity  is  that  innate  disposition  in  us  that  causes  us  to 
sin,  and  sin  is  the  transgression  of  law.  “  But,”  says 
somebody,  “  is  not  that  the  old  doctrine  of  total  de¬ 
pravity?”  Yes.  “But  I  do  not  like  that  doctrine,”  you 
say.  I  do  not  like  it  either,  but  it  is  a  fact.  I  do  not  like 
sin ;  I  do  not  like  smallpox,  but  they  are  facts  neverthe¬ 
less.  My  not  liking  a  thing  does  not  change  the  fact. 
We  do  not  mean  when  we  say  a  man  is  totally  depraved, 
however,  that  he  is  as  mean  as  he  can  be.  All  are  totally 
depraved ;  yet  some  are  worse  than  others,  and  some 
could  be  worse  than  they  are,  and  some  could  be  better 
than  they  are,  the  Lord  knows  they  could.  When  man 
fell,  the  whole  man  fell;  no  part  of  the  man  escaped  the 
fall.  If  I  should  take  a  glass  of  water  and  put  a  grain 
of  strychnine  in  it,  the  whole  would  be  poisoned.  No 
part  of  that  water  has  escaped.  If  I  should  put  an  ounce 
of  strychnine  in  it  there  would  be  more  poison  to  the 
quantity  of  water,  but  the  glass  of  water  would  not  be 
more  totally  poisoned  than  before.  When  man  fell,  the 


98 


DOES  RELIGION  PAY? 


whole  man  fell ;  that  is  what  we  mean  by  total  depravity. 
We  do  not  have  to  go  to  the  Book  to  prove  that  men  are 
totally  depraved.  But  somebody  asks,  “  Does  not  that 
mean  that  we  are  damned  for  Adam’s  sin?”  No.  We 
are  not  only  depraved  by  nature,  but  we  are  sinners  by 
practise.  There  is  the  trouble  with  us.  We  have  no 
right  to  complain  of  Adam’s  sin,  so  long  as  we  indorse  it 
by  our  practise.  If  you  are  damned  for  your  own  sins 
you  will  have  a  plenty  to  account  for. 

But  some  one  may  say,  “  But  how  do  those  who  die 
in  infancy  escape  the  penalty  of  Adam’s  transgression?” 
They  escape  it  through  the  death  of  Christ.  Adam  was 
the  federal  head  and  representative  of  the  race  in  the  fall. 
We  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  fall ;  it  was  brought  on  us 
without  our  knowledge  or  consent.  Jesus  Christ,  called 
the  second  Adam,  came  and  paid  the  penalty  of  the 
Adamic  sin  without  our  knowledge  or  consent.  Because 
Christ  has  paid  the  penalty  of  Adam’s  sin,  the  infant 
who  dies  before  reaching  the  years  of  accountability  is 
saved.  Infants  are  not  citizens  under  the  law,  but  when 
they  come  to  the  years  of  accountability  they  become 
accountable  for  their  own  sins,  and  unless  they  accept 
Jesus  Christ  as  their  substitute  they  must  suffer  the 
penalty.  Suppose  a  man  out  here  comes  to  town  with 
his  son  three  or  four  years  old,  and  the  boy  thinks  it 
would  be  royal  sport  to  stick  a  match  to  the  livery  barn 
and  watch  it  go  up  in  smoke.  He  does  it.  The  officer 
of  the  law  lays  hold  of  the  father  and  says:  “You  pay 
the  cost  of  this  damage.  You  are  responsible  for  the 
conduct  of  that  child.”  Why  does  he  not  take  the  child? 
That  child  is  not  a  citizen  under  the  law.  He  is  an 
infant ;  cannot  sue  or  be  sued.  But  you  wait  about  fifteen 
or  twenty  years.  The  child  has  grown  to  manhood. 
Now  he  comes  to  town  and  gets  on  a  whiz  and  paints  the 


PREPARE  TO  MEET  GOD 


99 


town  red.  The  officer  seizes  him  and  makes  him  pay  the 
penalty.  Why  did  he  not  arrest  the  young  man’s  father 
again?  Because  the  young  fellow  has  crossed  that  in¬ 
visible  line  between  infancy  and  citizenship  known  under 
the  law,  and  the  father  is  not  legally  responsible  for  him. 
The  father  can  still  step  in  and  say,  “  I’ll  pay  his  fine.” 
If  the  son  will  accept  the  father’s  offer  he  can  go  free; 
but  you  cannot  force  the  father  to  do  it,  neither  can  you 
force  the  son  to  accept  the  father’s  substitution.  It  must 
be  voluntary  on  both  sides.  Jesus  Christ  came  into  the 
world  and  paid  the  penalty  of  the  Adamic  sin,  and  until 
the  infant  has  crossed  the  invisible  line  between  account¬ 
ability  and  non-accountability,  he  has  no  sin  of  his  own, 
and  so  cannot  be  condemned;  so  if  the  infant  dies  in  that 
state  he  is  saved  by  the  death  of  Christ.  And  his  case 
is  just  as  sure  as  Jesus  Christ,  because  his  case  does  not 
depend  upon  what  he  does,  but  upon  what  Christ  has  done 
for  him.  I  do  not  think  you  can  find  anything  dangerous 
or  serious  about  that  doctrine.  The  doctrine  of  total 
depravity  is  a  Bible  doctrine,  and  the  best  way  to  escape 
it  is  not  to  deny  it,  but  to  accept  the  fact  and  put  your 
case  in  the  hands  of  Jesus  who  has  paid  the  debt. 

Having  noticed  the  fact  that  all  must  die,  that  we  must 
all  meet  God,  and  that  we,  by  nature,  are  unprepared  to 
meet  God,  hence  the  third  point : 

III.  The  Necessity  of  Preparation 

Preparation  is  necessary  if  we  are  to  have  a  pleasant 
and  profitable  meeting  with  God.  Are  you  prepared  to 
meet  God  tonight?  If  you  are  not  prepared  to  meet  God 
tonight,  then  prepare  this  night  to  meet  God.  Somebody 
will  say,  “  Who  should  prepare  to  meet  God  ?  ”  The 
answer  is,  “  The  old  man  whose  hair  is  white  with  the 
frosts  of  many  winters  needs  to  make  preparation.”  But 


100 


DOES  RELIGION  PAY? 


while  the  old  must  die,  the  young  may  die,  and  do  die. 
More  people  die  young  than  ever  die  old.  You  say,  “  The 
wicked  old  villain  who  has  committed  the  sin  of  murder, 
drunkenness,  adultery,  and  every  crime  known  to  man, 
needs  preparation  to  meet  God.”  Yes,  he  needs  to  pre¬ 
pare  to  meet  God,  but  that  man  does  not  need  it  any 
worse  than  the  most  innocent  girl  in  this  house  who  is 
unsaved.  He  is  nothing  more  than  lost,  and  she  is  noth¬ 
ing  less  than  lost.  They  are  both  lost  alike  and  for  the 
same  reason. 

The  great  apostle  declares  that  “  There  is  no  difference, 
for  all  have  sinned  and  come  short  of  the  glory  of  God.” 
They  are  both  condemned  alike  and  for  the  same  sin — 
non-belief.  There  is  no  difference  as  to  the  offer  of 
salvation,  no  difference  as  to  the  terms  of  salvation,  and 
no  difference  as  to  the  character  of  salvation  which  they 
receive ;  absolutely  no  difference.  They  are  both  sinners 
and  condemned  because  they  have  not  believed  on  Jesus 
Christ.  Salvation  is  offered  to  all  men,  without  money 
and  without  price.  The  terms  of  salvation  are  repen¬ 
tance  towards  God  and  faith  in  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 
Mother,  do  not  delude  yourself  into  thinking  that,  because 
Johnnie  is  a  good  boy,  he  does  not  need  as  much  salvation 
as  does  that  old  wicked  villain  in  the  community.  Paul 
says,  “  There  is  no  difference,  for  all  have  sinned  and 
come  short  of  the  glory  of  God.”  Then  the  innocent, 
the  moral,  the  good,  if  there  be  such,  out  of  Christ,  all 
need  salvation  as  much  as  the  vilest  sinner  in  the  world. 
For  they  are  all  lost  alike.  “  Do  you  mean  that  I  can 
make  myself  any  better,  when  you  say  I  should  prepare 
to  meet  God?  ”  No,  if  you  could  cleanse  yourself  of  one 
sin  you  could  cleanse  yourself  of  two,  then  three,  and 
indefinitely.  Thus  you  would  need  no  Saviour.  The 
only  preparation  that  you  need  is  to  know  yourself  to  be 


PREPARE  TO  MEET  GOD 


101 


lost,  and  to  know  that  provision  has  been  made  for  your 
salvation,  and  that  you  can  accept  it  as  it  is  offered  to 
you  on  the  terms  of  the  gospel. 

“  Is  there  any  certain  place,  or  bench,  to  which  I  must 
go?”  No.  But  you  have  to  get  to  that  place  in  your 
experience,  however,  where  you  are  willing  to  do  anything 
or  be  anything  or  go  anywhere.  This  means  that  you 
must  let  God  save  you  in  his  own  way.  You  can’t  save 
yourself.  “  But  don’t  I  have  to  suffer  for  my  sins  before 
I  can  be  saved?  ”  The  Bible  does  not  recognize  the  doc¬ 
trine  of  penance.  You  cannot  by  suffering  render  your¬ 
self  any  better  in  God’s  sight.  Jesus  Christ  suffered  once, 
the  just  for  the  unjust,  that  he  might  bring  us  unto  God. 
Some  say :  “  There  is  plenty  of  time  yet.  It  is  not  neces¬ 
sary  that  I  be  saved  tonight.”  How  do  you  know  that 
it  is  not  necessary  to  be  saved  tonight?  How  do  you 
know  you  can  be  saved  at  some  other  time?  God  does 
not  say  you  have  plenty  of  time  yet.  That  suggestion 
comes  from  the  devil.  For  God  says  :  “  Now  is  the  time ; 
now  is  the  accepted  time ;  this  is  the  day  of  salvation.” 
He  makes  you  no  promise  of  tomorrow.  You  have  no 
assurance  that  if  you  rebel  against  the  Spirit  tonight,  he 
will  knock  again ;  and  you  cannot  come  without  his  draw¬ 
ing.  It  is  a  hazardous  thing  for  you  to  take  your  salva¬ 
tion  into  your  own  hands  and  go  contrary  to  the  expressed 
will  of  God. 

We  have  no  right  to  say  any  man  has  gone  to  heaven 
who  has  made  no  preparation  for  heaven.  There  is  a 
story  of  an  old  slave  in  ante-bellum  days  whose  master 
had  died.  A  friend  of  this  man  met  the  old  slave  one 
day  and  said,  “  Sam,  I  understand  your  master  has  gone 
to  heaven.”  “  I  don't  know,  sir,  about  that,”  was  the 
reply.  “Well,  isn’t  he  dead?”  “Yes,  sir,  massa  he’s 
dead  all  right,  but  I  don’t  know  about  his  going  to 

H 


102 


DOES  RELIGION  PAY? 


heaven.”  “  Well,  if  he  is  dead  why  don’t  you  know  he 
has  gone  to  heaven  ?  ”  The  old  negro  said  :  “  When  massa 
going  anywhere  he  always  tell  us  about  it.  We  see  him 
getting  ready.  But  I  never  did  hear  massa  say  anything 
about  going  to  heaven  and  I  never  did  see  him  getting 
ready  for  heaven,  so  I  don’t  know  about  his  going  there.” 
That  is  good  philosophy.  I  am  glad  preachers  are  get¬ 
ting  to  the  point  where  they  will  not  lie  about  a  man 
when  preaching  at  his  funeral,  and  try  to  make  it  appear 
that  he  has  gone  to  heaven  when  he  has  never  made  any 
preparation  for  heaven.  The  fellow  that  has  run  with 
him  in  sin,  hearing  the  preacher  say  he  has  gone  to 
heaven,  says,  “  Well,  I’m  all  right  then.”  You  had  better 
let  the  truth  be  told  than  to  send  others  to  hell  trying 
to  take  care  of  the  feelings  of  the  family.  Say  absolutely 
nothing  of  his  life  if  he  has  not  lived  right  in  the  com¬ 
munity.  The  man  who  does  not  deserve  eulogies  should 
not  have  them,  and  the  man  who  deserves  them  does  not 
need  them.  If  I  say  anything  about  a  man  of  this  kind 
I  say:  “  It  is  not  necessary  for  me  to  tell  you  (the  rela¬ 
tives  and  friends  of  this  man)  his  manner  of  life.  You 
know  that  better  than  I  do.”  We  should  be  honest  with 
the  people.  I  am  honest  with  you  tonight  when  I  tell 
you  that  if  you  do  not  believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
and  confess  him,  you  will  spend  eternity  in  hell.  “  He 
that  believeth  not  shall  be  damned,”  but  if  you  believe 
with  all  your  heart  and  confess  with  your  mouth  the  Lord 
Jesus,  you  will  be  saved. 

I  trust  you  will  take  your  stand  with  God’s  people  now 
while  he  is  calling  and  the  Spirit  is  drawing.  Repent  of 
your  sins,  believe  on  Christ.  Come  out  and  confess  him, 
if  you  have  not  already  confessed  him.  Do  it  now .  Pre¬ 
pare  to  meet  thy  God. 


X 


DIVINE  ABANDONMENT 

“  Ephraim  is  joined  to  his  idols,  let  him  alone.”— -Hosea  4:17. 

It  is  a  hazardous  thing  to  trifle  with  God.  There  are 
those  who  seem  to  think  they  can  trifle  with  God  as  a 
child  trifles  with  his  toy.  “  The  mills  of  the  gods  may 
grind  slowly,  but  they  grind  exceeding  small.”  We  used 
to  sing  an  old  song. 

While  the  lamp  holds  out  to  burn 
The  vilest  sinner  may  return, 

but  that  is  hymnology  and  not  theology.  There  is  no 
Scripture  that  says  you  can  be  saved  whenever  it  suits 
you. 

God  not  only  has  ways  and  means  for  doing  things, 
but  times  as  well.  And  whenever  we  fail  to  do  things 
at  God’s  time,  we  fail  for  all  time,  for  there  is  no  time 
but  God’s  time.  Some  of  us  have  never  yet  accepted  the 
fact  that  God  has  definite  times  for  doing  things,  and  that 
if  we  miss  God's  time  the  opportunity  is  gone  forever: 
but  this  is  true.  A  failure  to  recognize  this  important 
fact  has  wrought  havoc  with  many  a  soul. 

I.  Does  God  Really  Abandon  Men? 

Does  God  teach  that  there  is  danger  of  being  aban¬ 
doned  and  left  in  sin?  Does  God  teach  that  there  is  a 
limit  to  his  patience?  I  think  I  can  show  you  that  he 
does.  You  remember  the  case  of  the  children  of  Israel 

103 


104 


DOES  RELIGION  PAY? 


when  they  went  up  to  spy  out  the  promised  land.  God 
promised  to  go  with  them,  saying,  “  I’ll  fight  your  battles 
and  give  you  the  land.”  The  spies  went  up  and  came 
back  and  made  a  report.  Some  said,  “  They  are  giants 
over  there.”  But  what  difference  did  it  make  if  their 
enemies  were  giants  and  they  but  grasshoppers  in  their 
sight,  so  to  speak,  so  long  as  they  had  God  to  fight  their 
battles?  God  was  no  grasshopper,  and  he  was  going  to 
do  the  fighting.  When  we  consider  ourselves  as  grass¬ 
hoppers  before  our  enemies  they  will  consider  us  even 
less  than  grasshoppers.  But  if  God  is  with  us,  what  do 
we  care,  whether  they  are  small  or  great,  few  or  many? 
However,  they  refused  to  go  up  and  take  the  land,  saying, 
“  We  are  not  ready  to  go.”  So  God  said,  “  Ye  shall  never 
go.”  Then  they  wanted  to  go  but  God  said:  “No.  If 
you  try  to  possess  the  land  now,  your  enemies  will  chase 
you  out  like  bees,  for  I’ll  not  go  with  you.”  God  never 
gave  them  another  chance.  Some  people  say :  “  God 
ought  to  have  given  them  another  chance ;  he  ought  to 
have  given  them  just  one  more  chance  anyway.”  But  he 
did  not.  You  may  think  you  are  wiser  and  better  than 
God,  but  he  gave  them  that  opportunity,  and  he  never 
gave  them  another.  They  died  in  the  wilderness.  God’s 
time  to  go  was  the  only  time  they  could  go. 

You  recall  the  parable  which  Jesus  spoke  in  the  four¬ 
teenth  chapter  of  Luke,  about  the  man  who  made  a  great 
supper  and  bade  many  to  come,  for  all  things  were  now 
ready.  Those  who  had  been  bidden  began  to  make  ex¬ 
cuses.  One  said  he  had  bought  a  piece  of  land  and  had 
to  go  to  prove  it ;  and  another  had  bought  five  yoke  of 
oxen,  and  he  had  to  go  and  try  them;  and  another  had 
married  a  wife,  and  so  he  could  not  go  to  the  big  supper. 
Now  Jesus  tells  us  this  parable  is  like  unto  the  kingdom 
of  heaven.  The  master  of  that  house  said  to  his  servants, 


DIVINE  ABANDONMENT 


105 


“  Go  out  into  the  highways,  and  constrain  them  to  come 
in.”  The  King  James  version  says,  “  compel,”  but 
“  compel  ”  carries  with  it  the  idea  of  force.  He  did  not 
compel  them,  but  he  constrained  them  ;  that  is  the  meaning 
of  the  original  Greek.  But  as  to  those  men  who  had  been 
bidden,  “They  shall  never  taste  of  my  supper.”  Jesus 
said  that  is  like  unto  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  Those  who 
have  been  invited  to  partake  of  God’s  blessings  and  make 
frivolous  excuses,  will  never  have  another  opportunity. 
The  master  of  the  house  said,  “  They  shall  never  taste  of 
my  supper.”  This  is  the  main  thought  in  this  parable. 
Again,  Jesus  said  to  his  disciples,  “  Go  into  the  cities,  and 
preach  unto  the  people,  and  if  they  hear  you,  all  right, 
but  if  they  refuse  to  hear  you,  brush  the  dust  off  your 
feet  and  go  on  to  others.”  But  somebody  says,  “  He 
ought  to  have  given  them  a  few  more  chances.”  Well, 
why?  One  chance  is  more  than  other  cities  have  had. 
Many  of  the  cities  had  never  had  one  opportunity  yet. 
He  said,  you  just  leave  them  and  go  on  to  other  cities. 

You  remember  the  Scriptures  which  I  read — from  the 
Second  Psalm  and  Proverbs,  the  first  chapter,  and  the 
fifty-ninth  of  Isaiah,  and  the  first  chapter  of  Romans,  and 
the  twenty-ninth  chapter  of  Proverbs — where  it  says : 
“He  that  being  often  reproved,  and  hardeneth  his  neck, 
shall  be  suddenly  destroyed,  and  that  without  remedy  ” ; 
“  You  shall  seek  me  diligently,  but  you  shall  not  find 
me  ” ;  “  You  will  call,  but  I  will  not  answer  ” ;  “  You  shall 
eat  the  fruit  of  your  own  doing  ” ;  “  God’s  arm  is  not 
shortened  that  he  cannot  save,  but  your  sins  have  so 
separated  between  you  and  your  God  that  he  will  not 
hear”;  God  said,  “My  spirit  shall  not  always  strive 
with  man.”  I  have  seen  at  least  one  man  who  told  me 
that  God’s  Spirit  had  been  withdrawn  from  him.  And 
he  gave  good  evidence  that  this  was  true.  I  was  holding 


106 


DOES  RELIGION  PAY? 


a  meeting  in  a  small  village  in  Kentucky  some  years  ago, 
and  this  man  was  a  regular  attendant  at  the  preaching 
services  every  night.  He  sat  there  every  night  on  the  end 
of  the  same  pew  next  to  the  aisle,  and  paid  close  attention 
to  the  preaching.  One  night  as  I  was  going  to  my  room 
it  was  raining,  and  I  was  walking  along  the  plank-walk 
under  my  umbrella,  I  noticed  that  a  man  was  following 
close  to  me.  As  I  turned  into  the  gate,  at  the  house 
where  I  was  stopping,  he  came  up  to  me  and  said, 
“  Brother,  I'd  like  to  speak  to  you  a  moment.”  So  I  held 
my  umbrella  over  us  both  as  I  stopped  and  leaned  over 
the  gate.  I  noticed  that  this  man  was  the  same  young 
man  who  sat  on  a  certain  seat  every  night  and  had  paid 
such  close  attention  to  the  preaching.  He  said,  “  I  wish 
you  would  tell  me  what  the  unpardonable  sin  is.”  I  told 
him  I  thought  it  was  deliberately  and  wilfully  to  attribute 
the  works  of  the  Holy  Spirit  to  the  devil.  Jesus  says  all 
other  sins  may  be  pardoned  except  blasphemy  against  the 
Holy  Spirit,  and  the  connection  shows  that  this  blasphemy 
was  wilfully  attributing  the  works  of  the  Holy  Spirit  to 
the  devil.  They  had  seen  Jesus  performing  miracles  and 
had  said  he  was  doing  it  by  the  prince  of  the  devils. 
“  They  who  blaspheme  against  the  Holy  Spirit  shall  never 
be  forgiven.”  I  think  one  has  to  sin  against  light — do  it 
wilfully  and  maliciously — to  commit  the  unpardonable  sin. 
I  know  some  folks  tell  us  unbelief  is  the  unpardonable 
sin.  Now  unbelief  is  an  unpardoned  sin  but  not  un¬ 
pardonable.  There  is  a  difference  between  unpardoned 
and  unpardonable.  Unpardonable  means  that  it  cannot 
be  pardoned.  I  saw  when  I  got  through  explaining  to 
this  young  man  what  the  unpardonable  sin  is,  that  he  was 
not  satisfied,  and  so  I  said,  “  What  is  the  trouble  with 
you  ?  ”  He  hesitated  a  long  time  but  finally  said,  “  I  have 
committed  the  unpardonable  sin.”  I  said,  “  I  hope  not.” 


DIVINE  ABANDONMENT 


107 


He  said :  “  I  have ;  there  is  no  salvation  for  me.  God's 
Spirit  has  abandoned  me  forever.’'  I  said,  “  What  have 
you  done?”  He  said:  “I  deliberately  and  wilfully 
cursed  God.  I  don’t  know  why  I  did  it ;  I  was  perfectly 
rational  when  I  did  it.  Something  was  annoying  me 
and  hounding  me,  and  I  could  not  get  away  from  it.”  I 
imagine  conviction  was  working  upon  him.  He  said :  “  I 
could  not  get  away  from  it.  I  finally  got  mad  and  de¬ 
liberately  cursed  God.  When  I  did  that  a  peculiar  feel¬ 
ing  came  over  me ;  it  was  a  feeling  of  the  absence  of 
something  rather  than  the  presence;  and  from  that  day 
until  this,  I  have  had  that  same  peculiar  feeling  that  some¬ 
thing  has  left  me.  I  believe  God’s  Spirit  has  abandoned 
me,”  I  said :  “  I  hope  not.  I  don’t  know  what  it  means 
to  curse  God.  I  notice  you  have  been  at  the  preaching 
service  every  night,  and  seem  to  be  interested.”  He  said  : 
“  Yes,  I  hear  you  preach,  and  I  can  reason  all  right,  my 
understanding  is  all  right ;  I  hear  the  preaching,  but  it 
does  not  move  my  feelings  a  particle.”  I  said,  “  Well, 
you  come  on  to  the  services  every  time,  and  if  God’s 
Spirit  ever  impresses  you  to  make  a  move,  you  seize  the 
opportunity  and  act  right  then.”  He  said,  “  I  will  come, 
but  the  Spirit  never  moves  me.”  He  came  on  to  every 
service,  but  he  was  never  impressed  at  all,  so  far  as  I 
could  see.  He  could  not  come  to  God  if  the  Spirit  did 
not  draw  him.  One  day  before  I  left  that  place  I  was 
taking  dinner  at  a  home  and  was  talking  about  the  meet¬ 
ing.  and  I  said  something  about  this  man,  and  the  good 
sister  in  the  home  said,  “  Every  preacher  who  had  come 
to  that  place  for  years  had  been  asked  by  this  same  man 
to  explain  what  the  unpardonable  sin  was.”  She  said, 
“  He  came  out  here  once  and  went  out  to  the  tobacco- 
patch  where  my  husband  was  at  work  and  asked  him  that 
question,  but  so  far  as  we  know  he  has  never  before  told 


108 


DOES  RELIGION  PAY? 


anybody  why  he  was  asking  that  question.”  I  want  to 
say  God  will  not  allow  men  to  trifle  with  him.  Now, 
certainly  God,  the  Great  Sovereign  Ruler  of  the  Universe, 
will  not  allow  men  to  curse  and  defy  him.  It  is  a  terrible 
thing  for  a  man  to  rebel  against  God,  harden  his  heart, 
and  miss  his  opportunity  of  salvation.  “  Ephraim  is 
joined  to  his  idols,  let  him  alone.”  He  is  as  a  cake  un¬ 
turned.  We  learn  from  the  Bible  that  men  may  seek 
repentance  and  find  it  not.  You  may  call  when  God  will 
not  hear.  Paul  says  three  times  in  Romans,  the  first 
chapter,  “  God  gave  them  up,”  and  “  left  them  to  their 
own  sins,”  and  “  gave  them  over  to  hardness  of  heart  and 
reprobate  living.”  They  would  have  it  so.  They  did 
not  want  to  remember  God.  God  gave  them  up  and  let 
them  suffer  the  consequences  of  their  own  rebellious  will 
and  corrupt  lives.  It  is  a  hazardous  thing  to  trifle  with 
God. 

II.  How  Does  God  Abandon  Men? 

What  does  it  mean  to  be  abandoned  of  God?  I 
think  it  means  that  God  withdraws  and  withholds  all 
divine  influences  and  leaves  one  alone.  I  think  that  is 
what  he  did  to  this  man  I  have  just  told  you  about. 
The  Spirit  of  God  abandoned  him  and  left  him.  I 
think  it  means  that  God  says  to  the  Holy  Spirit,  “  Let 
him  alone,  he  has  treated  you  with  contempt.”  I  think 
it  means  that  God  says  to  his  ministers,  “  Let  him 
alone,  give  your  time  to  somebodv  else.”  I  think 
sometimes  it  is  best  to  leave  some'  men  alone  and  go 
to  others,  for  it  is  time  thrown  away  to  labor  longer 
with  such  men.  We  might  spend  the  time  to  better 
advantage  trying  to  reach  children.  No  man  has  the 
right  to  go  to  hell.  It  is  wrong  to  go  to  hell,  and  no 
man  has  the  right  to  do  wrong,  but  every  man  has  the 


DIVINE  ABANDONMENT 


109 


privilege  of  going  to  hell.  God  says  to  the  Holy  Spirit 
and  to  his  ministers,  “  Let  him  alone/'  And  I  think 
God  says  to  the  man’s  conscience,  “  Let  him  alone  and 
let  him  not  be  disturbed  again  until  he  is  disturbed 
by  the  fires  of  hell.”  I  think  it  means  that  God  not 
only  withdraws  and  withholds  all  the  means  of  grace, 
but  that  he  gives  the  man  over  wholly  to  the  bad.  Oh, 
with  what  rapidity  a  man  must  go  to  perdition  when 
all  restraints  and  constraints  are  withdrawn  and  he  is 
given  over  wholly  to  the  influence  of  the  devil.  There 
are  men  who  will  oppose  everything  that  is  righteous, 
every  religious  measure,  and  will  favor  the  licensed 
saloon,  bawdy  houses,  and  everything  that  is  corrupt. 
They  are  certainly  given  over  wholly  to  the  service 
of  the  devil.  That  sort  of  man  has  sold  out  wholly  to 
the  devil,  so  ‘‘  Let  him  alone,  he  is  joined  to  his  idols.” 

Again,  I  think  it  means  that  the  man  is  given  over  to 
final  destruction.  Many  years  ago  a  large  excursion 
boat,  the  Benjamin  Franklin,  was  going  down  the 
Ohio  river  with  an  excursion  party,  and  there  was  an 
old  negro  on  the  bank  who  saw  that  the  boat  was  on 
fire  in  the  hull.  The  boat  was  crowded  with  gay  pas¬ 
sengers,  and  they  were  having  a  great  time  with  music 
and  dancing.  The  old  negro  shouted  to  them,  waving 
his  hat,  and  telling  them  the  boat  was  on  fire.  They 
only  jeered  at  him  and  said  :  “  Go  away,  you  old  fool, 
you  are  trying  to  disturb  our  pleasure.  Go  on  about 
your  business  and  let  us  alone.”  He  could  not  let 
them  alone,  however ;  he  ran  down  and  got  a  skifif  and 
started  down  the  river  after  them,  knowing  that  they 
would  soon  be  leaping  into  the  river.  But  they  went 
on  reveling  and  merrymaking  and  before  the  old  negro 
had  overtaken  them  the  vessel  was  wrapped  in  the 
flames  which  were  bursting  forth  from  the  hull.  He 


110 


DOES  RELIGION  PAY? 


rescued  as  many  as  he  could.  They  were  glad  to  have 
his  help  then.  If  they  had  only  heeded  the  warning 
they  might  all  have  escaped.  You  say,  “  The  preacher 
is  trying  to  scare  us.”  There  are  many  people  in  this 
community  who  ought  to  be  scared.  I  would  to  God 
I  could  scare  you,  because  some  of  you  are  in  great 
danger.  Oh,  I  would  to  God  I  could  scare  you  tonight 
and  get  you  to  realize  your  danger.  You  would  better 
be  disturbed  in  your  sins  than  be  damned  for  your 
sins.  The  one  who  causes  you  to  flee  to  safety  is  your 
friend.  God  grant  that  you  may  be  scared  tonight, 
and  realize  that  there  is  great  danger  ahead ;  there  is 
danger  in  delay.  God’s  time  is  the  only  time  to  act. 

III.  Why  Does  God  Abandon  Men? 

Does  he  do  it  simply  because  he  has  the  power?  No. 
Well,  does  he  do  it  because  it  gives  him  pleasure?  No, 
for  he  assures  us  that  he  takes  no  pleasure  in  the  death 
of  the  wicked.  God  does  it  because  there  is  no  other 
course  for  him  to  pursue.  When  a  man  deliberately  re¬ 
fuses  to  accept  the  offers  of  mercy,  there  is  nothing  left 
him  but  justice.  And  it  is  the  height  of  folly  for  any 
man  to  complain  because  God  lets  men  go  to  hell.  Men 
blaspheme,  saying,  “  God  sends  his  children  to  hell.”  No, 
God  does  not  let  his  children  go  to  hell.  None  of  God’s 
children  go  to  hell.  God  does  not  even  send  his  rebellious 
subjects  to  hell;  they  go  there  themselves.  The  very 
fact  that  he  gave  his  Son  to  die  and  sends  the  Holy  Spirit 
to  draw  men  to  him  is  proof  that  God  takes  no  pleasure 
in  the  destruction  of  the  wicked.  Can  you  think  of  any¬ 
thing  which  God  might  have  done  for  the  salvation  of 
men  that  he  has  not  done?  I  can  think  of  nothing  else, 
unless  God  might  have  saved  men  regardless  of  their 
wishes.  But  that  is  unthinkable.  That  would  make  God 


DIVINE  ABANDONMENT 


111 


a  monster.  Men  are  free  to  act  of  their  own  volition 
and  not  mere  machines.  As  it  is  you  have  no  grounds 
to  complain.  No  man  has  any  right  to  complain  because 
salvation  is  not  universal  so  long  as  the  offer  is  universal. 
What  would  you  think  of  a  man  who  has  furnished  for 
him  a  nice  home  free  of  rent  by  the  company  for  which 
he  is  working,  standing  outside  cursing  the  company  be¬ 
cause  it  allows  one  of  its  employees  to  stay  out  and  take 
the  weather?  I  think  you  would  say  he  is  a  knave. 
Well,  what  do  you  think  of  the  man  who  curses  God  be¬ 
cause  he  lets  men  go  to  hell  when  salvation  is  offered  to 
all  men  without  money  and  without  price?  He  does 
everything  that  can  be  legitimately  done  for  man’s  salva¬ 
tion.  But  God  allows  man  to  act  for  himself.  When 
men  go  to  hell,  they  do  it  with  their  eyes  open,  and  they 
go  in  spite  of  God’s  offers  of  salvation,  the  drawing  of 
the  Spirit,  and  the  preaching  of  his  word.  It  is  a  hazard¬ 
ous  business  to  trifle  with  God.  His  spirit  will  not  always 
strive  with  men. 

There  is  a  time,  we  know  not  when, 

A  place,  we  know  not  where, 

That  marks  the  destiny  of  men 
To  glory  or  despair. 

There  is  a  line  to  us  unseen. 

That  crosses  every  path, 

That  hidden  boundary  between 
God’s  patience  and  his  wrath. 

To  cross  that  limit  is  to  die, 

To  die  as  if  by  stealth, 

It  may  not  quench  the  beaming  eye, 

Nor  pale  the  glow  of  health. 

You  may  go  on  just  as  bright  and  happy  as  before, 
not  knowing  that  you  are  doomed  until  you  are  finally 


112 


DOES  RELIGION  PAY? 


damned ;  but  when  once  you  cross  that  line  your  doom 
is  sealed.  That  line  is  drawn  somewhere,  and  when¬ 
ever  you  pass  out  of  God’s  patience  into  his  wrath 
it  is  settled  for  all  time  and  for  eternity. 

Men,  it  may  be  that  some  of  you  have  not  yet  settled 
the  question  definitely  as  to  what  you  will  do.  You  can¬ 
not  afford  to  trifle  with  God.  He  says :  “  Whosoever 
will  may  come”;  “He  that  believeth  on  the  Son  hath 
eternal  life,  and  he  that  believeth  not  the  Son  shall  not 
see  life;  but  the  wrath  of  God  lieth  on  him.”  Will  you 
come  out  and  accept  Jesus  as  your  personal  Saviour  now? 
Life  and  death  are  set  before  you,  and  you  must  choose 
for  yourself.  Nobody  can  choose  for  you.  I  urge  you 
to  accept  life  and  live.  When  we  beseech  you  it  is  as 
though  Christ  himself  did  beseech  you,  for  we  beseech 
you  in  Christ’s  stead  to  be  reconciled  to  God.  If  you 
deliberately  rebel,  you  do  it  with  your  eyes  open  and 
knowing  what  the  consequences  are.  You  cannot  afford 
to  do  it.  God  have  mercy  upon  you.  If  there  is  an  un¬ 
saved  one  here  who  feels  God’s  Spirit  drawing,  do  not 
rebel.  If  you  hear  his  voice,  harden  not  your  heart. 
Where,  oh  where  will  you  spend  eternity?  Will  you 
settle  that  question  here  and  now?  It  is  too  late  to  settle 
it  when  you  are  in  eternity.  This  is  the  time.  This  is 
the  day  of  salvation. 


XI 


APOSTOLIC  PREACHING 

“  And  daily  in  the  temple  and  in  every  house  they  ceased 
not  to  teach  and  to  preach  Jesus  Christ.” — Acts  5  :  42. 

I  call  this  apostolic  preaching,  because  it  is  the 
kind  of  preaching  the  apostles  did.  I  suppose  that 
makes  it  apostolic.  Preaching  is  the  divinely  ap¬ 
pointed  method  of  saving  the  lost,  building  up  the 
saved,  and  propagating  the  principles  of  the  Christian 
religion  to  the  ends  of  the  earth.  Nothing  in  the 
divine  economy  can  take  the  place  of  preaching.  The 
circulation  of  religious  literature  helps  in  spreading 
the  gospel,  and  some  can  do  no  better  service  than  to 
scatter  good  religious  tracts.  We  are  told  that  Mrs.  J. 
Lawrence  Smith,  of  Louisville,  a  very  cultured  woman, 
took  tracts  and  leaflets,  and  went  out  on  the  streets  with 
a  friend  and  invited  the  people  to  services  at  the  church. 
On  one  of  her  trips  she  went  into  hotels  and  met  the 
guests  and  invited  them  out  to  service.  One  young  man 
who  was  playing  an  important  role  in  a  theatrical  per¬ 
formance,  was  asked  if  he  were  a  Christian,  and  he  said, 
“  No.”  Mrs.  Smith  gave  him  a  leaflet  on  the  way  of 
salvation,  invited  him  to  the  services,  and  insisted  that  he 
should  come.  The  young  man  promised  to  come  when 
he  could  get  off.  saying,  “  I  can  come  to  the  afternoon 
service,  as  I  am  not  engaged  at  that  hour.”  He  attended 
the  afternoon  service  of  a  meeting  in  the  Fourth  and 
Walnut  Street  Church,  and  was  converted  and  afterwards 
became  pastor  of  that  same  church.  This  was  Dr. 

113 


114 


DOES  RELIGION  PAY? 


George  C.  Lorimer,  one  of  our  great  preachers.  Mrs. 
Smith  did  not  consider  herself  too  good  or  too  wealthy 
to  render  that  kind  of  service,  and  perhaps  she  could  have 
rendered  no  greater  service  than  that.  I  recommend  it 
to  you.  Then  the  circulation  of  religious  papers  is  a 
good  thing.  I  think  every  Christian  home  should  have  at 
least  one  religious  paper  in  it;  the  paper  of  the  denomi¬ 
nation  to  which  you  belong.  You  cannot  keep  up  with 
your  denomination  unless  you  take  your  paper.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  we  send  our  children  to  school  and  teach 
them  to  read  and  try  to  cultivate  the  reading  habit,  and 
then  fail  to  furnish  them  good  literature.  They  are  go¬ 
ing  to  read  something,  and  it  ought  to  be  good,  religious 
literature ;  they  will  read  bad  literature  if  there  is  nothing 
else  for  them  to  read.  But  all  of  this  cannot  take  the 
place  of  preaching  in  the  divine  economy.  I  have  heard 
good  sermons  on  the  phonograph,  but  these  cannot  take 
the  place  of  a  living  man  preaching  to  living  men.  I 
heard  William  Jennings  Bryan  once  on  the  tariff  question 
on  a  phonograph ;  I  could  recognize  his  voice  and  his 
arguments,  but  it  did  not  stir  me  as  the  man  himself  did 
when  I  heard  him  on  that  question.  His  personality  was 
not  there.  Preaching  the  word  on  a  phonograph  would 
not  have  the  same  effect  that  a  living  man  talking  to 
living  men  would  have. 

However,  I  fear  our  present  conception  of  preaching 
is  modern  instead  of  apostolic.  We  talk  of  up-to-date 
preaching.  It  is  not  up-to-date  preaching,  but  back- 
to-date  preaching  we  need.  I  am  reminded  of  a  young 
surgeon  who  went  out  to  perform  a  very  difficult  opera¬ 
tion.  On  his  return  some  one  asked  him,  “  How  was  the 
operation?”  “A  brilliant  success,”  said  he.  “How  is 
the  patient  getting  along?  ”  was  the  next  question.  And 
with  an  air  of  disgust  the  surgeon  said,  “  Oh,  the  patient 


APOSTOLIC  PREACHING 


115 


is  dead,  but  the  operation  was  a  success.”  Well,  if  his 
purpose  was  simply  an  operation  he  succeeded.  Some¬ 
times  I  feel  as  if  preachers  are  much  like  the  surgeon. 
They  get  off  a  great  oration,  and  think  it  is  a  great  suc¬ 
cess  with  no  results.  Every  sermon  ought  to  have  an 
object.  Oh,  if  we  could  just  get  back  to  date  in  our 
preaching  and  go  after  the  lost,  heart  to  heart,  in  every 
service ;  that  is  the  kind  of  preaching  that  will  bring  the 
most  glorious  results.  That’s  what  we  need. 

I.  When  They  Preached 

“  Daily.”  It  does  not  say  they  preached  on  Sunday. 
That  is  too  often  for  some  people.  Once  a  month  is 
often  enough  for  some.  I  believe  every  church  ought  to 
have  worship  every  Lord’s  Day.  And  whether  you  can 
have  preaching  every  Sunday  or  not,  I  believe  you  ought 
to  meet  and  worship.  That  is  the  apostolic  way.  We 
invite  people  to  come  out  to  hear  preaching,  but  you 
hardly  ever  hear  people  say,  “  Come  and  worship  with 
us.”  We  magnify  the  preaching  at  the  expense  of  wor¬ 
ship.  Whether  they  had  a  preacher  or  not,  the  early 
churches  met  and  worshiped  God.  Almost  every  church 
in  the  land  could  have  preaching,  or  at  least  worship  every 
Sunday.  You  have  heard  the  cry  of  shortage  of 
preachers,  have  you  not?  It  is  alarming.  The  minutes 
of  the  Southern  Baptist  Convention  show  that  we  had 
nearly  twice  as  many  deaths  in  the  ranks  of  the  ministry 
as  there  were  ordinations  last  year.  (1919.)  At  the 
very  time  when  the  fields  are  white  unto  the  harvest,  and 
when  we  are  raising  more  money  for  our  general  de¬ 
nominational  work,  fewer  preachers  are  answering  the 
call.  Unless  we  pray  as  Jesus  instructed  us,  that  God 
will  send  out  laborers  unto  the  harvest,  and  call  the  young 
men  and  women  from  our  churches  and  from  our  homes 


116 


DOES  RELIGION  PAY? 


into  the  mission  work,  the  situation  is  going  to  be  disas¬ 
trous.  Unless  we  begin  to  pray  that  prayer  we  are  going 
to  find  ourselves  without  preachers  and  without  mission¬ 
aries  to  carry  on  the  work. 

But  some  do  not  go  to  church  once  a  month.  Some 
go  only  when  a  revival  is  in  progress.  One  man  of  this 
kind  was  converted  and  made  a  fine  worker  in  a  revival 
meeting,  but  when  the  revival  was  over  he  quit  coming 
to  church  altogether,  but  when  the  next  revival  began  he 
was  there.  The  brethren  said  to  him  one  day:  “We 
would  like  to  know  what  is  the  matter  with  you.  You 
were  very  active  at  the  protracted  meetings  last  year,  but 
since  that  you  have  not  come  to  church. ”  He  said,  “  I 
jined  the  big  meeting,  I  didn’t  jine  your  little  meeting/’ 
That  is  true  of  too  many  people.  When  we  join  a  church 
we  should  feel  that  we  are  a  part  of  the  whole  thing — 
Sunday  school,  prayer-meeting,  and  church  services,  for 
we  are  members  of  the  church.  Pastor,  if  you  had  all 
your  members  in  this  church,  you  would  not  have  the 
Sunday-school  record  you  have  on  that  board  there. 
That  is  not  only  true  of  this  church.  It  is  true  of  other 
churches.  Church-members  ought  to  be  present  at  every 
service  and  help  in  the  work.  It  says  these  disciples  were 
teaching  and  preaching  daily.  We  need  to  restore  this 
every-day  teaching  and  preaching  Jesus  Christ;  “Always 
abounding  in  the  work  of  the  Lord,  forasmuch  as  you 
know  that  your  labor  is  not  vain  in  the  Lord.”  Some 
may  say,  “  This  is  a  very  inopportune  time  to  work.” 
What  seems  to  be  the  most  inopportune  time  may  be  the 
best  of  times.  You  do  not  know  what  is  an  opportune 
time. 

You  have  heard  of  Uncle  John  Vassar.  He  said  he 
could  not  sway  the  great  congregation ;  that  he  was  the 
Shepherd’s  watch-dog  to  bring  in  the  little  lambs  one  by 


APOSTOLIC  PREACHING 


117 


one.  He  was  a  great  personal  worker.  One  day  he  was 
passing  through  a  large  city,  and  in  the  Union  Station  he 
saw  a  lady  in  the  waiting-room  who  he  decided  was  not  a 
Christian.  He  began  to  tell  her  about  Jesus,  and  her 
heart  opened  up  and  received  the  message.  After  he  was 
gone,  the  husband  of  this  woman  came  in,  and  she  told 
him  that  while  he  was  out  an  old  man  came  up  and  asked 
if  she  were  a  Christian,  and  he  said,  “  Why  didn’t  you 
tell  him  him  it  was  none  of  his  business?  ”  “Yes,”  she 
said,  “  husband,  it  was  his  business.  If  you  had  seen  his 
face  and  heard  his  words  you  would  have  thought  it  was 
his  business.”  He  made  it  his  business  to  talk  about 
Jesus  and  his  love.  He  went  into  a  town  to  help  in  a 
meeting  and  as  he  was  walking  by  a  blacksmith-shop  with 
the  pastor,  the  pastor  said  to  him  :  “  Now,  brother  Vassar, 
that  man  in  there  is  a  blasphemer  and  an  infidel ;  we  can’t 
do  anything  with  him.”  “  But,”  said  Uncle  John,  “  come 
on.  we  are  looking  for  him.”  The  pastor  said,  “  We  can¬ 
not  stop  now.”  “  Yes,  but  we  will  ”;  and  he  stopped  to 
talk  with  him.  and  got  him  down  and  prayed  with  him, 
and  the  man  gave  his  heart  to  God  and  became  a  flaming 
evangel  for  the  Lord. 

I  read  some  time  ago  of  a  preacher  who  had  been  out 
in  an  evangelistic  service  and  who  had  his  heart  stirred 
with  the  spirit  of  evangelism,  and  that  night  when  he 
returned  home  he  prayed :  “  O  God,  if  thou  wilt  forgive 
me  and  give  me  the  presence  and  guidance  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  I  will  go  anywhere  and  be  anything  for  thee;  just 
show  me  the  way  and  I  will  go.”  WTien  he  arose  the 
thought  struck  him,  “  Go  and  speak  to  a  certain  man.” 
He  said  to  himself,  “  That  old  fellow  is  a  skeptic,  and  I 
cannot  do  anything  with  him.”  The  impression  came  to 
him  again,  “  Go  and  speak  to  that  man.”  He  said  to 
himself,  “  He  is  not  at  home  tonight,”  but  the  voice  came 

i 


118 


DOES  RELIGION  PAY? 


the  third  time,  “  Go  and  speak  to  that  man.”  He  said 
he  was  startled  and  said  to  himself,  “  I  have  just  prayed 
and  said  I  would  go  anywhere,  and  now  I  am  making 
excuses.”  He  said,  “  I  will  go.”  He  picked  up  his  hat 
and  started,  because  the  Spirit  had  indicated  that  he 
should  go.  He  rang  the  door-bell,  late  as  it  was,  and  the 
man  came  to  the  door  and  said  to  the  preacher,  “  What 
are  you  doing  here  this  time  of  night?  ”  And  he  said,  “  I 
have  come  to  talk  to  you,”  and  the  man  said,  “  All  right, 
come  in.”  The  preacher  said:  “Tonight  I  was  praying- 
in  my  study  and  I  promised  God  I  would  go  anywhere 
and  do  anything  he  wanted  me  to  do.  The  Spirit  told 
me  to  come  here  and  I  have  come  to  talk  to  you  about 
your  soul.”  The  man  said :  “  You  have  come  at  the  right 
time,  I  am  alone  tonight;  my  family  are  all  away  from 
home.  I  don’t  know  how  I  happened  to  be  here,  but  to¬ 
night  I  sat  down  and  got  to  thinking  about  my  life,  and 
how  far  I  had  drifted  away,  and  I  was  so  deeply  im¬ 
pressed  I  could  not  go  to  the  gambling-den  or  the  saloon.” 
God  was  not  only  getting  the  preacher  ready  to  go,  but 
was  getting  the  man  ready  to  receive  the  message.  He 
got  down  and  prayed  with  him,  and  the  man  settled  the 
question  of  his  salvation  and  became  a  glowing  witness 
for  Christ.  Oh,  if  we  were  only  willing  to  let  the  Spirit 
work  through  us  and  use  us  in  his  own  way. 

Another  thing:  If  God  is  working  on  you  to  go  and  to 
speak  to  certain  men,  he  is  working  on  the  other  end  of 
the  line  getting  them  ready  to  receive  the  message.  God 
does  not  make  mistakes,  and  if  you  will  let  God  use  you 
you  will  make  no  mistake.  Go  and  do  what  the  Spirit 
indicates — no  matter  whether  you  fail  or  succeed,  appar¬ 
ently.  He  will  take  care  of  the  consequences.  Some¬ 
times  you  speak  to  a  lost  man,  and  he  gets  mad  and  says 
ugly  things ;  this  is  a  good  sign  you  have  driven  a  nail  in 


APOSTOLIC  PREACHING 


119 


the  right  place.  You  do  the  work  and  let  God  take  care 
of  the  consequences. 

II.  Where  They  Preached 

“  In  the  temple.”  That  was  the  place  dedicated  to  this 
service.  I  have  held  meetings  in  places  where  people 
did  not  want  me  to  go  out  on  the  streets  preaching.  I  was 
in  a  certain  city  holding  a  meeting ;  nobody  but  Christians 
would  come ;  the  people  seemed  to  be  satisfied,  they  did 
not  go  out  and  try  to  bring  folks  in.  I  was  amazed  at 
the  congregations  sometimes  at  night.  It  was  a  good  con¬ 
gregation,  but  not  more  than  one  could  stand  up  when  the 
invitation  was  given  for  the  unsaved  to  stand.  I  said  : 
“  We  must  reach  more  people  here.  If  they  will  not 
come  to  church,  then,  we  must  go  out  on  the  streets.” 
They  said,  “  Let  them  alone,  if  they  will  not  come  to 
church.”  I  said,  “  Some  people  in  the  city  don’t  know 
this  church  is  here.”  I  had  my  singer  get  an  auto-truck, 
and  have  an  organ  and  choir  placed  in  it,  and  we  went 
out  on  the  streets  and  preached  to  more  people  than  we 
ever  got  to  church.  Finally  the  permission  of  the  Mayor 
was  given  to  build  a  platform  on  Court  Square,  where 
I  preached  to  great  crowds  of  people.  I  tell  you,  people 
can  get  too  stylish  and  too  formal.  Jesus  Christ  went  to 
the  people  and  preached  to  them.  I  am  reminded  of  a 
thing  Doctor  Gambrell,  of  Texas,  said  a  few  years  ago 
in  the  Southern  Baptist  Convention.  He  said,  “  Some 
of  our  churches  are  so  stylish  that  if  we  were  having  a 
funeral,  and  the  man  in  the  coffin  should  wake  up  and 
find  that  he  was  not  dead,  he  would  be  buried  alive  rather 
than  get  up  and  disgrace  the  church  by  breaking  into  the 
‘  order  of  the  service.’  ”  Some  care  more  for  the  order 
of  service  than  for  the  salvation  of  sinners.  It  is  true 
the  church  is  set  apart  for  preaching,  but  that  is  not  the 


120 


DOES  RELIGION  PAY? 


only  place  where  preaching  ought  to  be  done.  This 
apostolic  preaching  was  in  the  temple  and  in  every  house. 
They  went  from  house  to  house  preaching.  Oh,  how  we 
need  more  of  this  apostolic  from-house-to-house  preach¬ 
ing.  Every  disciple  ought  to  be  a  preacher  in  that  sense. 
You  can  do  that.  If  we  could  get  every  Christian  aroused 
so  that  he  would  go  from  house  to  house  telling  what 
the  Lord  has  done  for  him,  we  would  have  a  great  re¬ 
vival  of  religion.  Are  we  willing  to  do  it? 

III.  What  They  Preached 

“  Jesus  the  Christ.”  Whether  preaching  is  valuable  or 
not  depends  upon  what  we  preach.  The  character  of  the 
preaching  determines  its  value. 

Reformation  is  a  good  thing,  but  reformation  will  not 
save  men.  If  there  is  nothing  more,  however,  men  ought 
to  reform.  But  a  man  might  reform,  not  from  a  sense 
of  conviction  of  sin,  but  from  other  motives.  He  might 
decide  that  his  business  would  be  better  off.  Some  do 
that.  I  would  encourage  bad  men  to  reform,  but  refor¬ 
mation  does  not  save  men.  They  must  be  born  again, 
born  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  before  they  can  enter  into  the 
kingdom  of  God. 

Humanitarianism  is  a  good  thing,  in  the  religious  sense 
but  not  in  the  theological  sense.  In  the  theological  sense 
it  means,  “  I  accept  the  humanity  of  Jesus  but  reject  his 
divinity.”  I  have  no  fellowship  with  anybody  who  rejects 
the  divinity  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  But  humanitarian¬ 
ism  means  in  the  general  sense  looking  after  the  human 
side,  which  is  worth  while,  but  the  people  who  are  work¬ 
ing  at  the  social  service  task  are  working  at  the  wrong 
end  of  the  job.  Jesus  did  not  come  to  fix  up  a  world  for 
men  to  live  in,  but  to  fix  up  men  to  live  in  the  world. 
The  corrupt  heart  must  be  cleaned  up,  and  the  rest  will 


APOSTOLIC  PREACHING 


121 


take  care  of  itself.  A  clean  heart  will  produce  a  clean 
life.  Instead  of  spending  our  time  cleaning  up  the  sur¬ 
roundings,  let  us  get  the  people  cleaned  up,  and  they  will 
clean  up  their  surroundings.  Civic  righteousness  is  a 
good  thing,  and  a  sermon  occasionally  on  this  subject  may 
not  be  out  of  place,  but  it  does  not  compare  with  a  ser¬ 
mon  on  “  Christ  and  him  crucified.”  The  great  need  of 
the  world  today  is  to  teach  and  preach  Jesus  the  Christ. 
If  we  had  more  of  that  character  of  preaching  we  would 
have  better  results.  Are  you  willing  to  go  from  house  to 
house  and  preach  Christ,  telling  what  the  Lord  has  done 
for  you  and  what  he  is  willing  and  able  to  do  for  others, 
if  they  will  only  let  him?  “  If  you  hear  his  voice,  harden 
not  your  heart.”  If  you  hear  his  voice,  do  what  it  says, 
and  leave  the  result  with  God.  Do  it  at  all  hazards. 
God  will  guide  you  in  this  work.  “  And  daily  in  the 
temple  and  in  every  house  they  ceased  not  to  teach  and 
to  preach  Jesus  Christ.”  This  is  the  character  of  service 
every  Christian  should  render. 


XII 


THE  GREATNESS  OF  SERVICE 

“  He  who  would  be  greatest  among  you,  let  him  become 
the  servant  of  all.” — Luke  22  :  26. 

It  may  seem  strange  to  us  at  this  distance  from  the 
Lord  that  there  was  a  wrangle  among  the  disciples  as  to 
who  should  be  accounted  greatest ;  not  who  should  be  the 
greatest,  but  who  should  be  accounted  the  greatest  in  the 
kingdom  of  heaven.  You  recall  too  that  there  was  one 
ambitious  mother  who  said,  “  Master,  permit  my  two  sons 
to  sit,  one  on  thy  right  hand,  and  one  on  thy  left.”  Jesus 
said:  “The  kings  of  the  Gentiles  exercise  lordship  over 
them,  and  they  that  exercise  authority  upon  them  are 
called  benefactors;  but  ye  shall  not  be  so;  but  he  that  is 
greatest  among  you,  let  him  become  the  servant  of  all.” 

There  is  a  legend  that  once  upon  a  time  a  man  went 
out  looking  for  a  king.  He  had  his  peculiar  notions 
about  what  it  took  to  constitute  a  king.  He  said  it  took 
four  things:  First,  the  animals  must  obey  him,  secondly, 
the  sun  must  be  his  servant,  thirdly,  the  waters  must 
flow  and  stop  at  his  command,  and  fourthly,  men  must 
reverence  him.  He  started  out  looking  for  this  king. 
One  day  he  saw  a  man  out  in  his  field  herding  his  flock ; 
by  word  of  mouth  or  motion  of  his  hand  he  could  control 
them.  He  said  to  himself :  “  This  man  has  one  of  the 
elements  of  a  king;  the  animals  obey  him.”  He  went 
into  the  man’s  house ;  the  man  took  out  his  sun-glass  and 
caught  the  rays  of  the  sun  and  kindled  his  fire.  He 
said:  “  He  has  the  second  element  of  a  king;  the  sun  is 
122 


THE  GREATNESS  OF  SERVICE 


123 


his  servant.”  Then  the  man  invited  the  stranger  into  his 
fields  in  the  valleys  below.  He  opened  up  the  flood-gates 
and  irrigated  his  fields,  and  closed  them  up,  and  the 
water  stopped.  He  said  :  “  He  has  the  third  element  of  a 
king.  The  waters  flow  at  his  command  and  stop  at  his 
bidding.”  Then  they  went  into  a  village  near-by,  and  he 
saw  that  men  revered  this  man  and  treated  him  with 
great  respect.  He  said  to  the  man :  “  Do  you  know  that 
you  are  a  king?  You  have  every  element  of  a  king.” 
The  man  said,  “  Yes,  I  know  I  am  a  king,  but  I  am  a 
king  to  serve  and  not  to  be  served.”  The  most  kingly 
thing  in  this  world  is  service,  and  the  most  queenly  thing 
in  this  world  is  service.  Jesus  Christ  came  into  this 
world  to  serve.  He  had  the  right  conception  of  the 
kingship.  “  I  am  among  you  as  he  that  doth  serve.” 
No  man  has  the  proper  conception  of  life  who  fails  to 
recognize  the  magnitude  and  moral  dignity  of  service. 

I.  The  First  and  Greatest  Principle  of  the  Christian 
Religion — The  Principle  of  Service,  or  Self-giving 

It  has  been  said  that  the  first  law  of  nature  is  the  law 
of  self-preservation.  The  smallest  insect  or  the  most 
timid  bird  will  fight  to  preserve  life ;  and  you  know  what 
desperate  deeds  men  will  commit  to  preserve  life.  Per¬ 
haps  the  most  remarkable  case  of  this  kind  in  the  United 
States  was  the  Leo  M.  Franks  case  in  Atlanta — the  Jew 
who  was  sentenced  to  die  for  the  murder  of  Mary  Fagan, 
the  girl  murdered  in  the  pencil  factory.  I  am  not 
expressing  any  opinion  on  the  merits  of  the  case,  but 
using  this  to  illustrate  what  desperate  efforts  and  struggle 
men  will  put  forth  to  preserve  life.  But  the  first  law  of 
the  Christian  religion  is  not  the  law  of  self-preservation, 
but  the  law  of  self -giving.  This  very  fact  proves  to  my 
mind  that  the  Christian  religion  is  not  a  natural  religion, 


124 


DOES  RELIGION  PAY? 


but  an  inspired  one.  If  it  had  been  a  natural  religion, 
that  is,  one  which  grew  up  out  of  nature,  it  would  have 
been  like  unto  nature ;  it  could  not  have  been  otherwise, 
for  like  begets  like.  Then  the  very  fact  that  it  is  unlike 
nature  and  just  like  God,  is  sufficient  proof  that  it  came 
not  up  from  nature  but  down  from  God. 

The  Christian  religion  is  a  religion  of  self-giving. 
First  of  all,  we  have  the  example  of  Jesus  in  this  self¬ 
giving.  He  left  the  glory  he  had  with  the  Father  before 
the  world  was  and  took  upon  himself  the  form  of  a  ser¬ 
vant  and  became  a  man,  lived  a  life  of  suffering  and  died 
a  death  of  shame.  When  the  devil  took  him  into  the 
mountain  and  offered  him  this  world’s  glory  if  he  would 
fall  down  and  worship  him,  he  pushed  it  aside  and  went 
to  the  cross.  That  was  a  crown  for  which  the  Caesar 
would  have  fought,  and  for  which  the  Kaiser  fought ;  but 
Jesus  said,  “  I  have  come  to  give  my  life  a  ransom  for 
many.”  We  not  only  have  his  example,  but  his  precept 
as  well.  He  took  a  towel  and  a  basin  of  water  and 
washed  the  disciples’  feet,  and  said,  “If  I,  your  Lord 
and  Master,  wash  your  feet,  you  ought  to  wash  one  an¬ 
other’s  feet.”  I  do  not  believe  foot-washing  is  a  church 
ordinance.  If  it  had  been  a  church  ordinance  there 
would  have  been  some  command  to  the  churches  to  keep 
it,  and  some  record  of  where  some  church  did  observe  it, 
but  there  is  neither.  Baptism  and  the  Lord’s  Supper  are 
mentioned.  Paul  did  deliver  these  two  to  the  church 
at  Corinth,  but  not  foot-washing.  If  it  had  been  a  church 
ordinance,  we  would  have  had  some  record  of  some  New 
Testament  church’s  observance  of  it.  There  is  no  ac¬ 
count  of  any  of  them  ever  observing  it.  “  Did  not  Jesus 
command  it?”  Yes,  he  commanded  us  to  fast  and  to 
pray  and  to  forgive  one  another,  and  to  love  each  other. 
These  are  commands  but  not  church  ordinances.  What 


THE  GREATNESS  OF  SERVICE 


125 


could  foot-washing  mean  as  a  church  ordinance?  An 
ordinance  declares  something  but  never  procures  any¬ 
thing.  The  Lord’s  Supper  declares  his  death  upon  the 
cross.  Baptism  was  instituted  to  declare  and  keep 
before  us  the  burial  and  resurrection  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ.  We  have  a  complete  picture  of  the 
death,  burial,  and  resurrection  in  these  two  ordi¬ 
nances.  But  what  would  foot-washing  symbolize? 
Well,  some  may  say,  “  It  would  declare  our  hu¬ 
mility.”  That  would  be  the  wrong  thing,  for  that 
would  show  a  lack  of  humility.  Oh,  that  we  could  be 
humble  without  boasting  about  it.  God  never  intended 
that  we  should  advertise  our  piety.  But  Jesus  gave  foot¬ 
washing  as  a  sample  of  unselfish  Christian  service.  Here 
is  an  example — here  is  a  sample.  We  not  only  have  the 
example  of  Jesus,  but  also  the  example  of  the  early  dis¬ 
ciples  as  well  in  this  unselfish  Christian  service.  It  is 
said  that  Judas  and  Silas  hazarded  their  lives  for  the 
cause.  It  was  a  hazardous  thing  then  to  follow  Jesus, 
but  these  men  went  out  as  disciples  of  Jesus  Christ  and 
risked  their  lives.  Noble  women  also,  like  Dorcas  and 
Lydia,  were  splendid  examples  of  this  unselfish,  Christian 
service.  This  was  one  of  the  distinguishing  principles 
of  the  Christian  religion.  The  heathen  religions  have 
some  principles  just  as  good  as  some  in  the  Christian 
religion,  but  they  have  not  this  principle  of  self -giving. 
While  they  often  sacrifice  their  children,  they  do  not  give 
themselves.  But  oh,  how  many  Christians  have  sacrificed 
their  lives  for  his  cause! 

II.  Nothing  so  Exalts  One  in  the  Eyes  of  God  or  Man, 

as  This  Unselfish  Service 

The  surest  road  to  greatness  is  service .  Why  were 
Moses  and  Paul  two  of  the  greatest  men  that  ever  lived? 


126 


DOES  RELIGION  PAY? 


Maybe  you  say  they  were  not.  You  may  say  some 
president  or  general  was  greater  than  either  of  these,  but 
let  me  ask,  How  do  you  estimate  greatness?  The  great¬ 
est  man  that  ever  lived  is  the  one  who  has  made  the 
largest  contribution  to  the  world's  permanent  good;  the 
man  who  has  done  most  to  lift  up  the  world  morally  and 
spiritually.  Then  I  think  you  will  agree  with  me  that 
Moses  and  Paul  were  the  two  greatest  men  in  history. 
Of  course,  Jesus  Christ  is  not  put  in  this  list,  because  he 
was  more  than  man.  Moses  was  in  the  king’s  palace  and 
might  have  sat  on  the  throne  some  time ;  who  knows  ? 
But  he  preferred  to  live  in  God’s  service  rather  than  to 
have  a  place  of  such  prominence.  He  went  down  into 
Egypt,  and  lived  with  the  slaves  that  he  might  serve  them. 
Some  may  have  said,  “  Moses  is  a  crank,  and  he 
will  die  and  be  forgotten.”  But  who  were  the  men  and 
the  women  in  the  king’s  palace  when  Moses  was  there? 
Their  very  names  have  perished ;  but  the  name  of  Moses 
is  immortal  because  of  his  unselfishness.  The  very  thing 
which  his  friends  considered  throwing  himself  away  made 
his  name  immortal.  Paul,  no  doubt,  was  a  member  of 
the  Jewish  Sanhedrin  at  one  time.  I  imagine  when  he 
left  that  body  with  all  its  self-conceit  and  pomp  and 
splendor  they  said,  “  Saul  is  crazy.”  But  Paul’s  name 
will  never  die  as  long  as  the  sun  shines  and  the  world 
stands.  He  was  unselfish  in  espousing  the  cause  of  the 
lowly  Nazarene,  and  this  very  unselfishness  immortalized 
his  name.  Why  is  it  that  the  name  of  William  Carey 
shines  the  brightest  star  in  the  galaxy  of  missionary  his¬ 
tory?  The  road  to  greatness  is  the  road  through  service. 

Then  again,  this  unselfish  service  is  sure  to  be  recog¬ 
nized  and  rewarded .  That  woman  who  broke  the  ala¬ 
baster  box  of  ointment  had  no  thought  of  making  her 
name  immortal.  Jesus  said,  “  She  hath  done  what  she 


THE  GREATNESS  OF  SERVICE 


127 


could.”  She  erected  a  perpetual  monument  that  day  to 
her  name.  If  she  had  put  the  contents  of  that  box  into  a 
monument  of  marble  it  would  have  perished ;  if  she  had 
put  it  into  a  tablet  of  brass  it  would  have  corroded,  but 
the  monument  she  erected  that  day  grows  brighter  and 
brighter  as  time  goes  on.  No  Florence  Nightingale  or 
Clara  Barton  will  ever  be  forgotten,  and  no  Jerry 
McAuley  will  ever  die.  I  imagine  if  some  one  had  asked 
during  the  Crimean  War,  “  Who  is  the  greatest  character 
of  the  war?”  no  one  would  have  mentioned  the  name 
of  Florence  Nightingale,  that  frail  girl  caring  for  the 
su fifering  and  dying,  standing  at  her  post  for  forty-eight 
consecutive  hours  without  food  or  water.  But  who 
knows  the  names  of  the  generals  of  the  Crimean  War? 
Perhaps  not  a  dozen  persons  in  this  congregation  can 
name  the  name  of  a  single  general  who  fought  in  the 
Crimean  War.  But  there  is  hardly  a  twelve-year-old 
child  who  does  not  know  the  name  of  Florence  Nightin¬ 
gale,  “  the  angel  of  the  Crimea.”  Fler  name  is  immortal. 
Clara  Barton  was  the  American  Florence  Nightingale 
who  lived  the  unselfish  life,  and  whose  name  will  live  for¬ 
ever.  Jerry  McAuley  was  a  drunken  sot,  in  jail  and 
out  of  jail,  and  one  night  a  missionary  handed  him  a 
tract  and  asked  him  to  read  it.  Jerry  McAuley  said,  “  I 
am  cold  and  hungry.”  The  minister  took  ofif  his  coat 
and  put  it  on  him  and  gave  him  a  meal.  After  he  was 
filled  and  warmed  the  missionary  began  to  tell  him  about 
Jesus.  Jerry  got  to  thinking,  and  finally  said,  “If  the 
Christian  religion  makes  a  man  put  his  own  coat  on  the 
other  fellow  and  feed  him  and  warm  him,  I  want  it.”  So 
he  was  converted  and  started  out  and  established  old 
Water  Street  Mission,  which  has  brought  into  the  king¬ 
dom  many  of  both  men  and  women.  Some  years  ago 
when  Jerry  died,  his  body  lay  in  state  in  New  York  City, 


128 


DOES  RELIGION  PAY? 


and  men  and  women  in  their  silks  and  satins  stopped  and 
caused  a  tear  to  fall  upon  his  brow  and  said,  “  He  saved 
my  husband,”  “  He  saved  my  daughter,”  “  He  saved  my 
boy.”  Do  you  think  a  man  like  that  will  ever  die?  No, 
he  made  a  life  and  did  not  need  any  monument.  Many 
people  would  gladly  give  anything  to  furnish  him  a  decent 
burial,  and  he  needed  no  monument.  Maybe  some  of 
you  think,  “  I  would  like  to  live  an  unselfish  life,  but  I 
am  afraid  if  I  should  go  out  and  throw  myself  into  the 
conflict  I  would  be  forgotten.”  No  doubt  you  would. 
If  you  are  thinking  of  your  fame  or  going  down  in  his¬ 
tory,  it  is  not  an  unselfish  life.  A  selfish  man  is  the 
worst  cheated  man  in  the  world,  but  the  man  who  dies  in 
the  interest  of  his  people  will  never  die  in  the  memory 
of  his  people. 

All  may  serve  and  therefore  may  become  great.  The 
road  to  real  greatness  is  through  service.  It  does  not 
matter  whether  you  are  cultured,  or  wealthy,  or  poor; 
the  opportunity  to  serve  comes  to  all.  You  do  not  have 
to  go  away  from  home  to  serve.  There  are  diamonds  at 
your  door  if  you  are  willing  to  do  what  you  can ;  you  will 
find  opportunities  right  here  in  this  little  city.  Are  you 
willing  to  throw  yourself  into  the  conflict?  Are  you  will¬ 
ing  to  lose  your  life  for  the  Lord’s  sake  that  you  may 
find  it  far  richer  and  more  glorious?  None  so  poor,  or 
so  obscure  but  that  they  have  abundant  opportunities  for 
service. 

III.  The  Extent  of  Our  Service  to  Man  is  the  Measure 

of  Our  Loyalty  to  Christ 

Sometimes  a  preacher  will  work  for  hours  on  a  sen¬ 
tence  to  get  it  to  express  exactly  what  he  wants,  and  then 
it  goes  in  at  one  ear  and  out  at  the  other.  This  sentence 
I  want  you  to  get:  The  extent  of  our  service  to  man  is 


THE  GREATNESS  OF  SERVICE 


129 


the  measure  of  our  loyalty  to  Christ .  The  treatment  we 
accord  to  his  disciples,  is  the  treatment  we  accord  to  him. 
How  much  do  you  love  the  Lord?  What  do  you  do  for 
him?  You  tell  me  how  you  treat  the  disciples  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  I’ll  tell  you  how  you  treat  him. 
You  remember  that  Scripture  I  read,  the  last  paragraph 
in  the  twenty-fifth  chapter  of  Matthew,  “  Inasmuch  as 
ye  have  done  it  unto  one  of  the  least  of  these,  you  have 
done  it  unto  me.”  The  service  we  render  to  the  disciples 
of  Christ  is  the  service  we  render  to  him.  You  cannot 
render  a  service  to  the  Master  directly.  You  cannot 
clothe  him,  you  cannot  feed  him. 

One  of  the  best  ways  to  serve  Jesus  is  to  propagate 
his  principles  in  the  earth.  There  is  a  story  about  a  shoe¬ 
maker  who  was  very  religious.  He  kept  his  own  house, 
and  as  he  pegged  away  every  day  on  his  bench,  he  thought 
about  Jesus,  and  very  naturally  at  night  he  dreamed  about 
Jesus.  He  dreamed  he  met  the  Lord  and  he  promised 
to  come  and  dine  with  him.  So  the  next  day  the  shoe¬ 
maker  prepared  the  best  meal  he  could;  but  Jesus  did  not 
come.  He  went  out  and  looked  up  and  down  the  streets 
looking  for  Jesus.  He  saw  the  crowds  going  to  and  fro, 
but  nobody  that  looked  like  Jesus.  Finally  he  saw  a  little 
ragged  beggar-girl,  and  she  was  hungry  and  asked  for 
something  to  eat.  He  said  to  her :  “  Come  with  me,  and 
I  will  give  you  something  to  eat.  I  was  looking  for  a 
friend  today,  but  you  can  take  his  place,  as  I  do  not 
believe  he  is  coming.”  She  enjoyed  the  meal  and  went 
on  her  way.  That  night  in  his  dreams  the  shoemaker 
met  Jesus  again  and  said,  “  Jesus,  you  did  not  come  and 
dine  with  me  yesterday.”  The  Lord  answered  and  said, 
“  Did  not  a  little  beggar-girl  come  and  dine  with  you?” 
The  man  said,  “Yes.”  He  then  said,  “Inasmuch  as  ye 
did  it  unto  her,  ye  did  it  unto  me.”  He  was  not  looking 


130 


DOES  RELIGION  PAY? 


for  Jesus  in  that  guise.  Tell  me  how  you  treated  that 
little  beggar-girl  that  came  to  your  door,  or  that  sick 
mother  with  that  emaciated  babe,  or  that  old  cripple  man 
that  was  down  and  out  and  asked  for  help,  and  I’ll  tell 
you  how  you  treated  the  Lord. 

While  I  was  pastor  in  Lexington,  Mrs.  Nowlin  was 
down  about  eight  weeks  with  inflammatory  rheumatism, 
and  I  was  staying  with  her  about  all  the  time.  She  was 
utterly  helpless;  I  had  to  turn  her  in  the  bed  and  wait 
on  her  all  the  time,  though  we  had  a  nurse.  Saturday 
had  come,  and  I  had  to  prepare  a  sermon  for  Sunday, 
the  next  day.  Sometimes  people  do  not  understand  the 
trying  circumstances  under  which  the  pastor  has  to  pre¬ 
pare  his  sermons.  Maybe  everything  is  against  him, 
and  he  cannot  see  how  he  can  live  and  pay  his  honest 
debts  and  hold  up  his  head ;  but  no  matter  how  trying, 
he  must  smile  and  go  ahead.  I  was  trying  to  prepare  my 
sermon,  and  this  very  sermon,  on  that  Saturday  for  the 
next  day.  I  was  making  an  outline  and  was  at  this  very 
point  when  I  heard  a  knock  at  the  door.  The  girl  was 
out  in  the  yard  with  the  children,  so  I  went  to  the  side- 
door  and  there  stood  a  big,  stout  man  who  said,  “  I  am 
very  hungry,  can  you  give  me  something  to  eat?”  I 
said,  “  I  think  I  can  find  you  something,”  so  I  went  to 
the  safe  and  got  a  paper  sack  and  put  in  some  meat  and 
bread  and  potatoes  for  him,  plenty  of  food,  such  as  it 
was.  He  thanked  me,  and  when  the  man  had  gone,  I 
went  back  to  work  on  my  sermon  and  I  had  to  quote  my 
Scripture  to  find  myself,  so  I  quoted  the  text,  “  Inasmuch 
as  ye  did  it  unto  one  of  the  least  of  these,  ye  did  it  unto 
me.”  I  said :  “  I  wonder  if  that  is  the  way  I  have  treated 
the  Lord  today.  I  wonder  if  I  have  entertained  an 
angel  unawares  today;  if  I  had  thought  of  that,  I  would 
have  treated  him  better  than  that.  I  would  have  warmed 


THE  GREATNESS  OF  SERVICE 


131 


him  up  some  food  and  brought  him  in  to  the  table,” 
That  Scripture  gripped  me  as  never  before,  and  I  have 
never  gotten  away  from  it.  Sometimes  when  I  think  of 
the  treatment  that  we  accord  to  our  Lord  by  the  way  we 
treat  the  strangers  at  our  door,  I  wonder  how  it  is  that 
the  Lord  can  own  some  of  us  at  all.  But  maybe  you  say, 
“  The  fellow  that  comes  along  begging  does  not  deserve 
good  treatment.”  Jesus  looks  not  upon  the  deserts  of  the 
beggar,  but  upon  the  grace  of  the  giver,  and  if  you  give 
in  a  disciple’s  name,  you  will  receive  a  disciple’s  reward, 
no  matter  whether  the  beggar  deserves  it  or  not. 

Again,  the  treatment  we  accord  to  the  disciples  of 
Christ  is  going  to  be  the  ground  of  our  judgment. 
“  These  shall  go  away  into  everlasting  fire  prepared  for 
the  devil  and  his  angels.”  “  Inasmuch  as  ye  did  it  not 
to  one  of  the  least  of  these,  ye  did  it  not  unto  me.”  “  In¬ 
asmuch  as  ye  did  it  unto  the  least  of  these,  ye  did  it 
unto  me.”  “  Come,  inherit  the  kingdom  prepared  for 
you  from  the  foundation  of  the  world.”  Some  may 
ask,  “Does  not  that  teach  salvation  by  works?”  No, 
but  it  does  teach,  “  By  their  fruits  ye  shall  know  them.” 
I  was  preaching  some  years  ago  in  Little  Rock  and  was 
stopping  with  a  brother  Edmonson.  One  afternoon  we 
were  sitting  out  on  the  porch,  and  Mrs.  Edmonson 
pointed  out  a  persimmon  tree  and  said,  “  Do  you  see  that 
tree?”  I  said,  “Yes,  I  see  it.”  She  said:  “My  father 
bought  that  tree  some  years  ago  for  a  pecan  tree ;  it  was 
labeled  pecan ,  and  we  called  it  our  pecan  tree  until  last 
year  it  had  a  crop  of  persimmons  on  it,  and  since  then  we 
have  called  it  a  persimmon  tree.”  It  was  not  growing 
persimmons  that  made  it  a  persimmon  tree ;  it  was  a  per¬ 
simmon  tree  all  the  time,  but  the  fruit  told  the  story.  The 
fruit  you  bear  tells  the  story  of  your  life. 

Some  time  ago  I  was  helping  in  a  meeting  at  Mount 


132 


DOES  RELIGION  PAY? 


Sterling,  and  there  was  a  certain  man  in  that  community 
who  was  described  to  me  as  being  a  sort  of  crack-brained 
fellow  who  went  around  to  see  every  preacher  that  came 
to  town.  So  he  came  to  see  me,  and  when  he  approached 
me,  he  said,  “  Well,  are  you  the  preacher  holding  the 
meeting  up  here?  ”  and  I  said  “  Yes.”  He  said :  “  Now, 
preacher,  I  am  not  a  Christian,  but  I  am  no  hypocrite. 
I  cuss,  but  I’m  not  guilty  of  cussing  in  the  presence  of 
Christians,  if  I  know  it.”  He  said,  “  I  wish  the  legis¬ 
lature  would  pass  a  law  requiring  every  Christian  to  wear 
a  tag  in  his  ear  so  I  would  know  him,  so  I  would  not  be 
guilty  of  cussing  in  his  presence,  embarrassing  him  and 
humiliating  myself.”  That  was  a  keen  piece  of  sarcasm, 
and  I  had  sense  enough  to  see  it.  He  meant  that  Chris¬ 
tians  around  here  live  in  such  a  way  that  you  cannot  tell 
them  from  anybody  else.  That  is  the  worst  thing  you 
could  say  about  a  Christian — he  needs  to  be  labeled.  If 
Paul  lived  in  this  community  you  would  not  have  to  ask 
whether  he  was  a  Christian  or  not.  Are  there  some  peo¬ 
ple  in  this  community  now  such  that  you  do  not  know 
whether  they  are  Christians  or  not?  The  Book  plainly 
teaches  us  how  we  may  know  Christians.  It  is  “  by  their 
fruits  ye  shall  know  them.”  It  is  not  the  name  you  wear, 
but  the  fruit  you  bear,  that  tells  the  story.  Do  you  live 
for  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ?  How  do  you  serve  him? 
How  do  you  treat  his  disciples?  What  evidence  are  you 
able  to  produce  to  the  world  that  you  are  a  Christian? 

The  way  to  be  great  is  to  be  great  in  service.  Link  up 
your  life  with  God,  live  the  unselfish  life;  and  rich  will 
be  your  joys  here  and  your  rewards  hereafter.  But  you 
must  have  the  Christ  life  before  you  can  produce  Chris¬ 
tian  fruit.  Your  service  will  be  great  in  proportion  to 
the  motive  which  produces  it. 


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